Talk:Taste bud

What about fat?
We have taste receptors for fat as well, but they aren't mentioned in the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.163.254.2 (talk) 12:59, 11 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree that oleogustus should be added: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oleogustus, Scientists Make The Case For A 6th Taste — But It's Less Than Tasty https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/02/428643391/oleogustus-is-the-newly-discovered-taste-and-boy-is-it-bad,
 * As well as ammonium chloride The proton channel OTOP1 is a sensor for the taste of ammonium chloride https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-41637-4#Sec9 Jdmumma (talk) 08:25, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

What causes spicy sensation?
What causes the sensation of hot, or spicy, which can border on pain for some people (like me)? --zandperl 23:27, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC)
 * Here's an explanation that I found: Scientific American --bigjarom 06:38, August 18, 2005 (UTC)

Remove Contradiction Tag
The contradiction has apperantly been removed -- 66.69.239.244 03:36, 14 September 2006 (UTC) hi —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.240.229.138 (talk) 23:56, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

healing factor?
I think there should be some mention about the healing process and cycle of taste buds, I'm sure many people look at this page because they scalded their tongue, or otherwise damaged their taste buds. looking around, I found this: post which links to some other good pages  on taste buds.

Essentially, the cells are replaced every 1-2 weeks. Cynorg 21:17, 2 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I agree this information would be useful in the article. Looking up burnt taste buds and came across this...it says that burnt taste buds regenerate within a few months: http://www.ific.org/foodinsight/1999/ja/tastefi499.cfmGiovanni33 (talk) 23:33, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Taste Buds on the Roof of Your Mouth
I recently got an upper denture and found that food just doesn't taste the same. I asked my dentist about this and he told me that we have taste buds on the roof of our mouth, too! However, he didn't have time to explain it to me. Does anyone have information about this? If so, please email me with whatever you find. Thank you!

Barb A.

hotcupofjava@sbcglobal.net

More specific definition of "taste bud"
This page is a wonderful start. My concern is that it never explains what taste buds actually are. We are told that they sit on papillae and that they are composed of receptor cells, but the taste buds themselves are neither of these things. I think this article would be improved if it explained the actual taste bud structure (pore, receptor/support/basal cells, nerve synapses). Alki 19:04, 20 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I've added some content from a public domain edition Gray's Anatomy to address these concerns, but if you have any additional (or more up-to-date) information, your contributions would be welcome. --Arcadian 14:25, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Conflict with Basic taste article
The basic taste article states that there are taste buds specifically designed for certain tastes (maybe not a full endorsement of the Tongue map, but along those lines), whereas this article states that all taste buds can taste all of the basic tastes. It may be possible that all taste buds taste all flavors, but some are designed to taste certain ones more than other tastes, but if so, this is far from clear. Is there a definitive answer, or is this something we're still not sure on? --Reverend Loki 22:19, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I think you're overstating the differences between the two articles. The Taste article has a pretty explicit refutation of the Tongue map: "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. 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." I've changed the article to better agree with the Taste article.


 * Actually, per the notice, it wasnt the Taste article that was conflicting this one, but rather the Basic taste article. If I get a chance, I'll do some editing on that one tonight.  I myself have no expertise on the subject, so from a glance I could not state which one was right over the other, or if they both held some bit of truth.  However, It looks like this article is in the right and the other is incorrect.   Oh, and don't forget to sign your entries on talk pages, Scott5834  --Reverend Loki 22:54, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Controversy over Sensitivity to Different Tastes and Taste Localization
I changed the article by adding more recent information regarding sensitivity. The Cell journal article pretty much proved that cells expressing taste receptors do not express them uniformly, nor are they uniformly sensitive to specific tastes. Some scientists have also suggested that there are in fact locations on the tongue that are more or less sensitive to specific tastes, though this may not be as simplified as the "tongue map" might lead one to believe (also referenced in the article).

Also, the article was not even consistent with the NPR program which is given as an External Link. In that program, Dr. Scott Herness, though he did say the tongue map was wrong, conceded that "receptors are not distributed evenly across the tongue" and that some wine connoisseurs experience sourness at the sides of the tonge and "that is where the tongue seems most sensitive to sour".Mhsia 20:21, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Unsigned Question - moved from top of page
Question: How many taste buds per kind of taste?
 * First, dont forget to sign your entries on discussion pages, 202.147.188.219. You will also probably want to make sure you are logged into your account as well, or if you don't have an account, you can register for one.  Secondly, you realy shouldn't just add questions like this ahead of the ToC of a discussion page - instead, create a subheading at the bottom of the page and ask your question there.  Thirdly - the answer is "all of them".  All taste buds can taste all of the "basic tastes".  Since, per the article, the humon tongue has about 10,000 taste buds, then I suppose the answer is about 10,000. --Reverend Loki 20:16, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Burned Taste Buds
There's no information on what happens when you burn your tongue on hot food? Or recovery options for that matter. I did a little outside searching and found the cells in the tongue are always in a state of turnover, so I suppose you will have to wait until they do that before the "burnt tastebud" will disappear as being such an irritant.--68.102.37.191 01:04, 25 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Looking up burnt taste buds and came across this...it says that burnt taste buds regenerate within a few months: http://www.ific.org/foodinsight/1999/ja/tastefi499.cfm —Preceding unsigned comment added by Giovanni33 (talk • contribs) 23:34, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

On a related note, is there an explanation about those little hard painful lumps that appear on the tongue, especially after eating a lot of acidic sour candy? I'd be curious if there was a study of what the papillae actually do when they form one of those..

Section rearrangement & addition of "spicy" clarification
Request For Comments: The current papillae section seems to imply a relation between tongue "geography" and different taste sensations. Therefore, I propose the following additions & edits. Maybe I should edit the article directly, but being a wikin00b, I'm afraid to be bold and tear up a well-designed article before reaching some kind of consensus.

I think it would be helpful and informative to explain the differences between "spicy hot" and traditional tastes. I hope I'm not the only one confused by the two (the first comment on this page asks the same question); after reading an Erowid piece about capsaicinoids I was firmly convinced that VR1 receptors were simply another "taste" and not a wholly different nervous system reaction (until I read the taste buds article and this corresponding talk page, that is). I don't know a lot about the physiological differences between vanillinoid receptors and taste buds, so an expert's input (or sources) would be appreciated. Possible new organization:

...glossopharyngeal nerve.

Location and Sensation of Taste
Contrary to popular understanding that different tastes map to different areas of the tongue, taste qualities are found in all areas of the tongue. [1] [2] [3].

The original "tongue map" was based on a mistranslation by Harvard psychologist Edward Boring of a German paper that was written in 1901 [4]. Sensitivity to all tastes occurs across the whole tongue and indeed to other regions of the mouth where there are taste buds (epiglottis, soft palate)[5].

It is known that there are five taste sensations: * Sweet, Bitter, and Umami (now sometimes called Savory), which work with a signal through a G-protein coupled receptor. * Salty and Sour, which work with ion channels.

Many people think of spicy, chile pepper-laden foods (containing capsaicinoids) as having a distinct and unique taste or "tongue feel." In reality, however, the "spicy" sensation is caused by simultaneous activation of "warm" (moderate heat-sensing) nerves and "pain" (polymodal nociceptor) nerves. These 2 sensations are rarely experienced together in nature, making the human reaction to chiles all the more anomalous (and questionably pleasurable, although Erowid classes these compounds as psychoactives. These two aforementioned types of nerves, responsible for our perception of mild temperature increase and pain/fight/flight intensity, are found all over the human body (including the tongue) and are vastly different from taste buds. This explains the typical spicy food reactions of eye tearing, flushing, and sweating, symptoms rarely produced by other foods.

Any constructive criticism or advice shall be greatly appreciated. Also, there should probably be a credit for the SciAm article, but I don't know whether that goes in references or external links. Thanks in advance for not biting! The posp 04:27, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

wrong
This article needs help. The very first sentence incorrectly states that the bumps on the tongue are taste buds. The bumps are papillae. The groove around each bump contains taste buds within it. And within those taste buds are the taste receptor cells. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.26.234.233 (talk) 02:06, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

I started some copy edits for incomplete sentences and am stopping with an apparent inconsistency that needs competent attention. In the "Types of papillae section", it says of fungiform papillae: "Innervated by facial nerve." In the linked article it says "They are innervated by the seventh cranial nerve, more specifically via the submandibular ganglion, chorda tympani, and geniculate ganglion ascending to the solitary nucleus (the sensory component of the Vagus nerve in the brainstem)." Bn (talk) 15:40, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

What About Calcium?
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/08/21/human-taste-buds-may-recognize-calcium/

Danielgump (talk) 21:50, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Hoax
I believe I have found a hoax. "Some early experimental studies (Kirk and Grills, 1992) showed that subjects who were genetically predisposed to baldness were found to be 78% more likely to experience taste loss sensations in 5 out of 5 taste trials. It was hypothesized that this was due to 'balding' of the tongue." The idea itself is dubious, and there's no record of the "experiment" (and Grills is probably a joke). This was put there by IP address 114.129.157.29 on October 4th 2009. It has gone unnoticed even though there have been multiple edits to correct grammar! I have removed it, but the whole article still really needs cleanup. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Silenceisgod (talk • contribs) 22:24, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Basic Flavors
I read quite a while ago that while there is little understanding of how these flavors are detected by the taste receptors, metallic, fatty, and chalky are perhaps just as "basic" as sweet and umami. Signed by Victor Broderick