Sweet Taste Rats

There are multiple things that are related to the way things taste. To put every single factor that goes into being able to taste things in detail, one should just say goodbye to their loved ones because it could take forever. This paper is only about how food is able to change tastes when other factors such as sound and other foods are used. On your tongue there are these things called papillae. In the papillae there are taste buds, and within the taste buds are taste receptor cells. Children have more taste receptors than adults and the number of taste receptors declines with age. The taste receptor cells detect the five different types of tastes, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami/savory [1].

Everybody's preference for sweet taste may be because sweet foods are able to provide a quick source of energy. The sweet taste in food comes from mostly glucose and fructose, which is found in sucrose, or sugar. However, sweet taste can also be found in non-carbohydrates, such as aspartame, saccharin and certain proteins. Some chemical compounds, produce a sweet taste by binding taste bud receptors that are combined with G-proteins. G-protein activation starts signaling cascade that produces the sweet taste [2] [3].

The acids in food release hydrogen ions, or protons. The concentration of hydrogen ions determines how sour the food is. Hydrogen ions join with acid-sensing channels in the membranes of taste cells. When the channels are activated, they cause nerves to signal the brain [2]