PROJECT FA-3 ( 10th std- Biology )

How does smell affect Taste ?

We  know that we all have five senses: Taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. Even though the senses of taste and smell are separate, they are so close to one another that they are intertwined. Taste and smell work together to help you fully experience food.

http://www.nuclearconnect.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/senses.png

Have you ever had a cold and tried to eat your favorite food, only to find that it tastes relatively dull and boring compared to what it should taste like? Because your sense of smell is not as strong due to your stuffy nose, your sense of taste is also dulled. Why does this happen?



Let’s find out!



You have somewhere between 5,000-10,000 taste buds that detect tastants, the chemicals in your food that are sweet, salty, bitter, sour, or savory. The nerves in your taste buds then send messages along your cranial nerves to your brain.

While your taste buds are detecting tastants, a membrane along the roof of your nose is detecting odorants. The sensory cells along that membrane send messages olfactory bulb, which then combines that information with information from your taste buds to create the perception of flavor.

http://www.wysinfo.com/Perfume/picts/0_wysinfo-smell%20drawing2_550_1.JPG

http://www.tastescience.com/foodchartwhite.jpg

Your taste buds can detect five different tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (www.innerbody.com). While your tongue tells you which category food is in, your sense of smell aids you in deciphering specific taste differences. When you take away your sense of smell, your brain has a much more difficult time determining the difference between specific tastes, especially if you cannot see the food!

Courtesy :- Discovery Express, Maddie Van Beek