Tasty Lungs

Research finds that the lung has receptors for bitter taste although they are not clustered in taste buds like the tongue. It was further discovered that activating these receptors by exposing them to bitter compounds relaxes airways better than any existing asthma drug.

Fizz has Taste

Scientists have discovered that carbonation actually has a flavor and gene manipulation can render an animal "blind" to the taste of carbonation. Scientists think our CO2 sensor evolved to help us avoid food that’s spoiled but we still enjoy fizz that tickles our tongue.

Price Affects Taste

20 subjects were given 5 wines and rated the same wine better when told it was more expensive. Really, there were only 3 wines - 2 offered twice, at a "low" and "high" price. MRI showed no change in taste centers, but there was increased activity in the brain's pleasure centers.

Sound Affects Taste

Food Quality and Preference reports that sound can affect our perception of taste.

College students were given headphones playing loud white noise, soft white noise, or nothing. They then closed their eyes and ate snack foods. Loud noise listeners rated chips less salty, cookies less sweet and crunchy foods crunchier VS. those who ate the same foods with less/no noise.

Studies show that sound can interfere with how the brain processes smell; maybe the same is true for taste.

Want Tastier Food? Add Calcium

Aside from molecules that trigger specific taste buds (salty, sweet), other substances have no flavor of their own but enhance flavors they are paired with - known as "kokumi" taste. Calcium is now believed to be a kukomi element.

Calcium, as well as calcium channels (which sense and regulate calcium levels), on the tongue are the targets of compounds that can enhance taste.

Calcium channels are closely related to the receptors that sense base flavors and kukomi ingredients are enhanced when they interact with calcium channels. During tests, those molecules that induced the highest activity in calcium receptors also elicited the strongest flavor enhancement. Moreover, blocking calcium channels reduced flavor experience.

Maybe mom was on to something when she made sure you finished your milk!