admin Researchers believe the sixth taste could be a survival strategy. It activates receptors that detect sour flavors.
According to researchers, ammonium chloride has become the sixth basic taste.
A sixth taste is added to the five basic ones: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.
According to experts, the ability of a species of taste ammonium may be a survival strategy.
Humans have a new taste response. The study, published in Nature Communications Trusted Source in early October, found that humans can also detect ammonium chloride, creating a strong sensation researchers describe as “bitter, salty, and a little sour.”
Ammonium chloride, according to the report, activates receptors that detect salty or sour taste in our cells. The five basic flavors have been expanded to include ammonium chloride.
Nicole Avena, Ph., an associate professor of neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and author of Sugarless said the ability to taste ammonia — a smell and taste that indicates certain foods, including seafood and meat, have spoiled” may be a survival strategy.
Avena, a spokesperson for Healthline, said: “The ability of humans to detect and avoid this taste would ensure that they don’t consume spoiled fish or meat that may contain harmful bacteria that can harm us.”
How can the sense of smell protect us?
The sense of taste is important to people.
Taste buds are important for detecting toxins, as well as deciding what to eat.
Avena says that when taste receptors are active, they send signals to the brain, which help us to perceive taste and react.
She explains that based on this information, we can decide whether food is healthy or dangerous, if we need more, or if it’s something we will remember.
Dana Ellis Hunnes is a clinical dietitian and assistant professor at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She also wrote “Recipe for Survival.”
Ammonium is toxic in high doses, and many vertebrates dislike the taste. This is believed to prevent them from eating decaying and waste matter.
Hunnes said that if someone can detect the substance, they are more likely to avoid it.
Humans can enjoy ammonium chloride in certain situations. It is also used in the production of salty licorice, as seen in Scandinavian countries.
Scientists believe that many more tastes are yet to be discovered.
Hunnes said, “There may be other tastes and flavours that we don’t know about but that we have already ingrained into us biologically.”
Future studies will help us to identify the taste receptors and cells of the human palate.
Avena stated that it is vital to continue studying taste, as the range of tastes humans can now experience is huge, thanks to food processing.
Ammonium Chloride activates sour receptors
This is the first time that a study has examined how our taste buds react to ammonium chloride.
Researchers exposed human cell cultures to ammonium chloride in order to determine the effect of ammonium on taste cells.
The researchers found that the compound activated a proton channel called protein otopetrin 1, a receptor type expressed in our cells of sour taste. Researchers also studied how mice reacted to water containing ammonium chloride and without it.
The researchers found that mice without OTOP1 did not react to the compound, whereas rodents with OTOP1 didn’t. The study indicates that both the human and mouse OTOP1 receptors react similarly to acid.
Researchers concluded that OTOP1 is essential to detect ammonium chloride in humans.
Avena says, “This new study suggests that in animal and cell culture cultures there may be a taste receptor called OTOP1 that responds ammonia taste.”
She added, “This is a very important area of research and it will be fascinating to see whether additional studies confirm these preliminary results.”
