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Are there now six tastes?

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News - Science News

Written by Hugh McManus

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Most people agree that humans can discern only four tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter.   Everything else that seems like a taste, is actually a smell.  Check it out for yourself.  Hold your nose and eat food: flavor disappears.  However, scientists now believe that we now have five and possibly six tastes. Recently, some groups of sciences have determined that humans can taste "savory" or umami.  A paper published in Nature in August, 2006 debunked many of the myths about taste believed for over a century.  For example, rather than being isolated in certain regions, the taste buds for sweet, sour, salty and bitter are found throughout the tongue, though certain areas may be more sensitive for a given taste than are others.   The Japanese identified umami in the early 1900s; scientists in the West now agree that the tongue can sense savory or glutamate.  Some have argued that there's a receptor for fat too. Scientists have recently determined that mice can "taste" calcium--a vital ingredient in the diet of mice and men.  From a survival perspective, the ability to taste or discern calcium makes sense: calcium is critical for survival.  Since mice share many of the same genes as humans, it's likely that people could taste calcium too.  People have often claimed the ability to differentiate sources of water based on calcium content.   Absence of calcium, among other ions, is one of the bases of success for the bottle water industry.  While the genetic evidence is appealing, scientists are now examining human tongues more closely in an attempt to identify calcium receptors. The results on calcium and taste were presented on August 20 at the American Chemical Society annual meeting held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. < Prev   Next >