Where does our sense of taste come from?

Question

For example a newborn baby like the taste of something 'sweet' rather than somthing 'not sweet'. Is this true?

Answer 1

Our sense of taste comes from receptors on our tongues. we prefer sweet to bitter naturally because sweet foods are high in energy, and bitter is a sign that a food might be poisonous. And despite what Krp-jk says, it is based on the tongue, however most of what we think of as taste is actually smell. The actual taste of sweet, salty etc is picked up by the tongue.

Answer 2

Maybe a baby's sense of taste is bi-polar at first as a safety mechanism ranging toward something sweet in order to stop the infant ingesting something poisonous, which would usually taste bitter, rather than actually 'preferring' sweet things. Maybe it wants carbohydrates, generally sweet, in training for when it is older as a source of instant energy in order to escape from predators? Surely the taste of the mother's milk will depend to some extent on what she has eat and providing milk that is, at least, neutral or a little sweet (which is what I understood) provides an opportunity for some very positive bonding - don't we all still associate sweetness with good things - 'hi, honey,' 'my sweetheart', etc? My kids certainly showed disgust when my wife fed them after eating garlic or lemon-soaked cous cous!

Answer 3

Excellent question!

In humans, the sense of taste is transduced by gustatory hairs, taste buds and is conveyed via three of the twelve cranial nerves. The facial nerve carries taste sensations from the anterior two thirds of the tongue (excluding the circumvallate papillae, see lingual papilla) and soft palate, the glossopharyngeal nerve carries taste sensations from the posterior one third of the tongue (including the circumvallate papillae) while a branch of the vagus nerve carries some taste sensations from the back of the oral cavity (i.e. pharynx and epiglottis). Information from these cranial nerves is processed by the gustatory system. Impulses generated by the gustatory taste hairs on the superior surface of the tongue, travel from the tongue to either the facial or glossopharengeal cranial nerves. They move to the medulla oblongata, to the thalamus, ending up in the gustatorial area of the cortex of the parietal lobe of the cerebrum.

It is important to note that the axons from these cranial nerves ascend in the spinal cord without crossing over. These fibers terminate in the amygdala, hypothalamus, and ventral posterior medial nucleus of the thalamus, which then projects to the somatosensory cortex within the brain. Thus, a lesion of the rostral nucleus solitarius, tractus solitarius, or solitariothalamic tract results in loss of taste from the ipsilesional, the same side as the lesion, half of the tongue.
Main article: Basic taste
As a general rule, taste is a holistic assessment of the interaction of the fundamental taste systems of sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness, and savouriness, or "umami". Location of the stimulus on the tongue is not important, despite the common misperception of a "taste map" of sensitivity to different tastes thought to correspond to specific areas of the tongue [1]. The "mouth map" is a myth, generally attributed to the mis-translation of a German text, and perpetuated in North American schools since the early twentieth century [1]. In reality, the separate populations of taste buds, sensing each of the basic tastes, are distributed across the tongue, though not entirely equally; for instance, the front of the mouth is biased toward sweetness and the rear toward bitterness. The brain also plays a part in the tongue's sensory distribution. If, for instance, half of the tongue is blocked from sending information to the brain, rather than any diminishment, people will instead report that a doubling of psychological perception has occurred for each taste, and no loss to any one.

New evidence is emerging that supports the inclusion of a sixth taste category for free fatty acids, the chemical components of dietary fat. A taste receptor mechanism for free fatty acids has been identified [2], an animal model for the detection of free fatty acids is being characterized [3], and studies of human detection of free fatty acids are beginning

Answer 4

No, newborns adapt to the tastes you give them. Many babies will pull faces if you gave them a sour lemon drink, but upon time they will get used to the sour taste.

It is important to start a young child with many flavours and textures of food, to help their palate grow into a compromising and well established one. Offering your child a variety of flavours and textures will more likely make them turn into eating a well balanced healthy diet.

Its when you start giving a child choices, that usually throws the sense of tastes out of the window!!

Answer 5

It comes from our Olfactory senses which is tied into on sense of smell. Babies' olfactory senses need time to develop more after they are born. No, I don't think your questions is true because formula or breast milk is very bland, I think maybe babies like fruits (or something sweet) because it is different.

Answer 6

Taste is a sensation recieved by our taste buds and analysed in the brain. Where does it come from, where the rest of us does i guess.

Answer 7

from our taste of smell...babies adapt to what is sweet by trial..you give them something sweet and they associate it with the smell..try to eat something you hae by closing ur nose

Answer 8

Dear frn;
It basically comes form the olfactory lobes present in our nasal cavity. Contrary to popular belief it does not stem from our tongue....

Answer 9

If you mean "Why do we have it"? it is to allow our ancestors to differentiate between what is OK to eat, and what is not.

Answer 10

Tongue and nose.