Can you smell or taste the stench of snail noodles?

There are too many "have to" in life

I have to go to work to make a living

Wearing a mask is necessary for epidemic prevention

besides

Taking bitter medicine for health

However, for medicine that is hard to swallow

I heard that if you pinch your nose and eat it, it won't be bitter.

Don't tell me, it really works.

In fact, the taste can not only be "tasted"

You can also "smell" it!

Just like...

Snail Rice Noodles

Our sense of taste can only allow us to taste 5 flavors

Taste is a sensation produced by direct chemical stimulation.

The sense of taste depends on the taste buds on the surface of our tongue, oral cavity and pharyngeal mucosa . An average adult has 2,000 to 4,000 taste buds, which are renewed every week.

Within these taste buds are sensory cells connected to nerves, also called "taste hairs," which are key sites for taste perception.

When we eat, the taste buds are stimulated through chewing and the stirring of the tongue and saliva. The taste hairs recognize the taste of the food and transmit the information through the taste nerves to the taste center of the brain, thus producing the sense of taste and tasting the food.

Image source: wiki.com

Although the types of chemicals are infinite and the flavors are ever-changing.

However, we seem to be able to distinguish only four or five basic tastes, namely sour, sweet, bitter, salty, and the fifth is "umami".

The name "umami" comes from Japanese and refers to the taste produced by monosodium glutamate.

Image source: giphy.com

Therefore, if we only have taste without smell, we can only taste the same sour, sweet, bitter, salty and fresh tastes. For example, if you only use your taste buds to taste Sprite and Coke, you can only taste similar sweetness and it is difficult to distinguish the subtle differences between the two.

Taste identification through smell

Humans can distinguish and remember 10,000 different smells. This is thanks to a small area of ​​mucous membrane inside our noses, the olfactory epithelium, which contains functional nerve cells, the olfactory receptors . These receptors have hair-like projections, called cilia, that detect odors.

When molecules in the air enter the nasal cavity and stimulate the cilia, they trigger nearby nerve fibers to produce nerve impulses. These nerve impulses are then transmitted to the amplifying nerve cells (olfactory bulbs), and then to higher-level olfactory centers, causing the sense of smell.

The brain regions that remember smells are also activated. These memories help us distinguish and identify different smells we have been exposed to throughout our lives.

Image source: Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Treatment

Interestingly, we have two ways of smelling. One is the orthonasal olfaction, which is to detect external odors through the nasal cavity, such as the fragrance of magnolia flowers at home, the perfume sprayed by beauty lovers, the aroma of food from restaurants, etc.

The other is the retronasal pathway, which detects odors in the mouth through the oral cavity and pharynx.

People recognize the taste of many foods through the retronasal pathway.

When you chew food, odor molecules travel to the back of your nose. Your taste buds tell you whether the food is sweet, sour, bitter, or salty.

Your nose picks up on details, like whether that sweetness is grapes or apples.

Image source: mdpi.com

When the smell comes from the retronasal passage, we confuse taste and smell and mistakenly think that it is the function of taste. Imagine that the flavor formed by the sour taste and unique aroma of lemon is actually the result of the fusion of smell and taste .

Image source: giphy.com

Your nose is like a silent father who loves you deeply and truly. It plays a supporting role in places you are not aware of, helping you taste the ever-changing flavors of food.

Now, try plugging your nose with your fingers and eating something. In some cases, the taste will be diminished, if not completely gone.

If you pinch your nose while eating snail noodles, the taste of sour bamboo shoots will be weakened a lot!

Therefore, pinching your nose to swallow medicine that is difficult to swallow will reduce the bitter taste. However, it is not recommended to pinch your nose to reduce the taste of medicine, especially for children (because pinching a child's nose to swallow medicine can easily cause the medicine to be accidentally inhaled into the trachea, causing suffocation).

As smart as you are, don’t you think that the best thing to do when you have a cold and a stuffy nose is to swallow bitter medicine?

Indeed, if a person's olfactory system is damaged, such as during a cold or flu, the person may suffer from anosmia, an inability to process smells and tastes, which in turn affects the ability to identify flavors.

Image source: giphy.com

The following factors also affect the identification of taste

age

As we age, especially over 60 , our sense of smell begins to decline due to a decrease in the number of smell receptors at the back of the nasal cavity and a decrease in the rate at which the receptor cells regenerate.

At the same time, your taste buds will decrease, and the remaining taste buds will be less sensitive.

This will first affect our sensitivity to salty or sweet tastes, so don’t blame your parents for eating too salty food because their ability to recognize taste has begun to weaken.

Image source: giphy.com

Certain medical conditions

Anything that irritates the lining of the nose and makes it feel stuffy, runny, itchy, or watery can affect our sense of smell.

This includes the common cold, sinus infections, allergies, sneezing, nasal congestion, influenza, and COVID-19 infection (about 5% of people will experience olfactory dysfunction after COVID-19 infection). This is because the edema caused by these diseases can hinder airflow in the nasal airways and hinder the movement of odors to the olfactory epithelium.

Fortunately, in most cases, as these conditions improve, your sense of smell will slowly return to normal.

But the following situations are not so optimistic.

Loss of smell may be an early warning sign of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.

Other diseases, including diabetes, Huntington's disease, Klinefelter's syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Paget's disease of bone, and Sjögren's syndrome, can also damage the nerves that lead to the smell center in the brain.

If you are unable to taste or smell for a long time, it is recommended to go to the hospital for examination as soon as possible to rule out these diseases.

Image source: giphy.com

drug

Some prescription and over-the-counter medicines can change your sense of smell or taste, especially antibiotics and blood pressure medications.

Certain vitamin deficiencies

Losing your sense of taste and smell may be your body’s way of telling you that you’re low in vitamins. Certain conditions and medications may cause you to be deficient in vitamins associated with smell and taste, such as vitamin A, B6, B12, and more.

Smoking

Tobacco smoke can damage or kill cells that help the brain categorize smells and tastes. Smoking also causes the body to produce more mucus and reduces the number of taste buds we have.

After reading this, you have no reason not to believe this: Only by protecting our sense of smell and taste can we enjoy our food and stay healthy.

At the same time, you can take advantage of the integration of smell and taste, pinch your nose and swallow things you don’t like but are good for your body (be careful not to inhale food into your trachea), so that you won’t taste it.

END

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/Xiao Xitushuo