More than just taste.

We all know about taste buds, they are small clusters of cells, specialized proteins we call "receptors" on the tongue and the roof of the mouth.  These taste buds detect 5 basic tastes: bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami (savory).  On average we have about 10,000 taste buds on the tongue, each one is made up of 50 to 150 taste receptor cells.

One of the roles of our taste buds is defense, to stop us eating things that are off, or might harm us in some way.  The receptors on the tongue send signals about the food and it's flavors to the brain, which decides if you should swallow or not.

Nothing new here...

Except researchers have recently found that taste buds may play an important role in protecting us against disease.  They have found taste receptors in organs throughout the body, from the brain to the lungs to the bladder...

As I said above, taste buds detect 5 basic tastes, but the receptors that have been found in places other than on the tongue have much more complex roles than just detecting these basic tastes.

The theory behind the role of taste receptors in other areas of the body is one of immune response, that is the body's reaction to foreign invaders such as bacteria.

The taste receptors on the tongue send signals to the brain, however the taste receptors in other areas of the body send signals to nearby tissue and organs instead of sending the signals to the brain.  They do this to set off a physiological response in a localized area.

For example; scientists at the University of Iowa discovered that the cilia (hairlike structures found

 in the airway that help eliminate harmful particles) have BITTER taste receptors on them.  To the brain, bitter means unpleasant and receptors have evolved to recognize potentially harmful chemicals that have a bitter taste.  Recent studies have found that when the receptors on the cilia recognize the bitter taste they activate the movement of the cilia to increase speed and trigger and immune response to kill the intruding bacteria in seconds or even minutes.  Much faster than with immune cells that can take hours, days or even weeks to create antibodies.

In other organs such as the lungs, bitter compounds are detected by receptors that recognize them as certain compounds secreted by bacteria.

Bitter is definitely the chief "taste", we have 25 different types of bitter taste receptors on the tongue and around the body, and only one type of taste receptor for sweet, salty, umami and sour.

These bitter receptors have been found in the brain, nose, sinuses, windpipe, heart, breasts, lungs, small intestine, colon, testicles and urethra.

People who are very sensitive to bitter tastes, and avoid bitter foods could have better immunity, as these receptors will detect harmful bacteria more efficiently and trigger the response to kill it much more quickly.

The fact that these internal taste receptors have been discovered to have a more protective role means that there may be a way to help patients who are vulnerable to lung infections.  Studies suggest that people who have a strong response to bitter tastes, have a more powerful immune response against Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections (Pseudomonas aeruginosa is found in hospitals and can cause skin infections, high temperature, blood infections and chronic sinusitis) and stronger clearance of the bacteria, this means that when they get and infection such as sinusitis, it will be less severe.

This information could lead to new treatments in upper respiratory tract diseases.

SWEET receptors have been found to have different roles, for example, those found on cells in the intestine are believed to be involved in the secretion of insulin from the pancreas.  So, there is still a long way to go, but this is just another example of how connected everything is within the human body and how it is all focused on helping you stay healthy.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com