Why we like different foods?

"Taste and flower tovarishtey net," reads the famous Russian proverb. And every time you sit down at a table with friends are convinced of that. Some hate spicy, others do not stop spew spices. It turns out that this is not just a matter of habit, and of physiology.

Papillae are small projections on the tongue, on the majority of which are located m. Called. Gustatory bulbs (there have taste our receptors). Some people have more papillae and usually tastes seem too strong - anaphylaxis taste. Often add cream to your coffee and do not like spicy food. People with less sensitive taste have a low density of papillae and prefer chicken wings "fire."

Individual taste depends not only on the number of papillae - it is determined by the ability of the taste buds to recognize different molecules.

We recognize the five flavors - bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami (the specific taste posed by glutamic acid, known to the west through the study of Japanese professor of chemistry Kikunae Ikeda in the early twentieth century). However, the combination of substances which cause these gustatory signals varies from person to person. Alexander Bachmanov, a specialist in genetics research center of "coins" in Philadelphia, says people have 20 to 40 genes responsible for taste receptors for bitter.

Varying degrees of sensitivity to bitter likely the result of evolutionary pressure in different parts of the world. Most poisonous plants are bitter and nomadic groups who have contact with many different plants over time have developed more receptors.

People from areas where malaria is raging usually have a gene that makes them more sensitive to some bitter compounds, particularly those containing cyanide. Scientists speculate that cyanide taken in very small doses destroys the malaria parasite without harming the body of the patient.

Dzhuyun Lim of the Department of Food Science at Oregon State University explains that feel natural aversion to bitter .

"Most people do not like beer the first time."

Source: www.euroscientist.com , www.pixabay.com