How do we taste food? Let's talk about the little taste buds on the tongue! (Taste Buds)

Have you ever thought about your favorite food, like a piece of chocolate cake or a piece of mango, and how it tastes so distinctly and distinctly when you put it in your mouth? Some foods are bitter, some are sweet, and some are sour and salty. How do we recognize all these tastes? Well, that's where the little friends on our tongues come in handy. Today, we're going to talk about those little friends, the taste buds .

What are taste buds? Where are they located?

Simply put, these taste buds are tiny sensory organs on our tongues. They're like little detectives. Their job is to figure out what the food you're eating tastes like and send a message to your brain.

Take a look at your tongue in the mirror!

Have you ever looked at yourself in front of a mirror and stuck your tongue out? When you look at it that way, you can see that there are little bumps and blisters on your tongue, right? That's what we call papillae . Our protagonists, that is, taste buds, are often hidden inside these bumps called papillae.

Think of these papillae as little houses. Inside those houses live taste buds. Not every papilla has taste buds, but most do.

Microvilli and the main types of taste buds

Now, there's another amazing thing inside these taste buds. That's these very fine, invisible, hair-like structures called microvilli . They act like little antennas. When you eat food, the chemicals in the food collide with these microvilli. When they collide, these fibers send a signal to the brain, saying, "This food tastes sweet," "or bitter," "sour," or "salty." That's when you can actually taste the food.

We generally talk about four main types of flavors:

• Sweet taste: The taste of things like sugar, honey, and fruit.
• Salty taste: The taste of salt and salty foods.
• Sour taste: The taste of things like lime, tamarind, and vinegar.
• Bitter taste: The taste felt by things like bitter gourd and coriander.

Our taste buds can detect all of these flavors. Some scientists talk about another flavor called "umami," which is the savory taste we get from foods like meat, fish, and cheese. But let's just think about these four for now.

How many little friends do we have that feel our taste? Are they always there?

Did you know? It's said that the average adult has about 10,000 taste buds on their tongue! That's a lot, right? It's like a small army.

But these taste buds are not permanent. They are renewed about every two weeks . Old ones die and new ones grow. Just like our skin cells renew themselves.

But here's something to keep in mind. As we age, the rate at which new taste buds are formed slows down. That is, as some old taste buds die, fewer new ones are formed to replace them. Therefore, the number of taste buds functioning on the tongue of an elderly person may be about 5,000.

Have you ever noticed how your grandparents would say "not enough salt", "not enough sugar" or "not enough spice" to some dishes? One reason for this could be that the number of taste buds is decreasing. So the amount of taste they can taste may be decreasing a bit. Also, this could be the reason why young children have a very sharp sense of taste. They have a lot of taste buds, so they are very sensitive.

Another thing is, this also affects smokers . Cigarette smoke can damage these tiny taste cells. Then the ability to taste the true taste of food can be significantly reduced.

The amazing connection between taste and smell!

Now you might think that the taste of food is only experienced with your tongue. But that's not entirely true. If you want to truly enjoy a dish, your nose needs to help too!

The nose helps too! How is that?

When you put food in your mouth and chew it, it releases tiny chemical particles. Some of these particles go straight into your nose. At the top of your nose are special cells that help you detect smells . We call these olfactory receptors . Just like taste buds, these cells send messages to the brain, saying, "Here's a smell like this."

So, when you eat food, both the messages from the taste buds on your tongue and the messages from the olfactory receptors in your nose go to your brain. The brain combines these two messages and tells you, "Oh, this is that delicious chicken curry," or "This tastes like mango juice."

That is, the true flavor of a food is created by the combination of taste and smell. These two work together like brothers.

Why does food taste bad when you have a cold?

When you eat on a day when you have a really bad cold and a stuffy nose, does it feel like the food has no flavor? We say, "Oh, the food has no flavor today." Do you know why?

The reason for this is that, because the nose is blocked, the chemical particles released by the food cannot enter the nose and stimulate the olfactory receptors. Then, only the taste message from the tongue goes to the brain. Since the smell message is missing, it is difficult for the brain to recognize the full picture of the food, that is, the true flavor. That is why we feel that the food does not taste good.

Shall we do a little experiment?

You can do a little experiment to see if this is true.

The next time you eat something (think a piece of fruit), first cover your nose with both hands. Then put the piece of food in your mouth and chew it.

You can feel it, your tongue can tell you the basic taste, like whether it's sweet or sour. But you can't really tell what kind of fruit it is, what its specific smell is. Now, immediately open your nose. See? As soon as you open your nose, you can feel both the actual taste and the smell of that fruit! That's the relationship between taste and smell.

So, what we need to remember (Take-Home Message)

So, from this story, you can see how amazing a process it is for us to enjoy food. It's not just something that happens with our tongues.

• Taste Buds: These small parts of our tongue help us identify basic tastes such as sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.
• The Effect of Smell: To experience the true, full flavor of a food, the sense of smell through the nose is essential. This experience is given to us by the taste buds and olfactory receptors working together.
• Think about your health: To keep your taste buds healthy, it's important to avoid smoking. Also, remember that your sense of taste may change slightly as you age.

The next time you eat a delicious meal, take a moment to thank your tongue and nose for giving you that delicious taste. Because without them, how much more enjoyable life would be, right? Food is not just something that fills your stomach, it is something that brings great joy to life. That joy is given to us by these little taste buds and our nose!

` Taste Buds, Tongue, Taste, Smell, Olfactory receptors, Papillae, Microvilli, Sri Lanka Health