Originally published January 25 2006
Food researchers explain how temperature affects the way we taste food
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In the journal Nature, researchers in Belgium's Katholieke Universiteit Leuven have published a study of how temperature affects the taste mechanism as well as the formulation of food products.
By increasing our understanding of the taste mechanism, the findings could be used to help manufacturers mask bitter, unwanted tastes that often turn consumers off, say researchers in Belgium's Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
According to the researchers, the reaction of TRPM5 in our taste buds is much more intense when the temperature of food or fluid is increased, sending a stronger electrical signal to the brain and resulting in an enhanced taste.
As we all know, ice cream does not taste sweet when it is frozen but only when we melt it in the mouth.
On the other hand, melted ice cream is very hard to drink because it is extremely sweet," said the researchers.
"Interestingly, because ice cream is consumed cold, ice cream makers need to add considerable amounts of sugars or sweeteners in order to endow the product with the much rewarding sweet taste, in detriment of our health," they added.
The same effect occurs with beverages like beer or wine, in which a bitter taste becomes much more apparent when the products are consumed above the appropriate temperature.
On the other hand, consumers enjoy a certain bitter taste in some beverages, such as coffee, tea or cocoa, which is why these taste better when hot.
How consumers sense food is crucial knowledge for a food industry constantly organising the building blocks of new food formulations.
And according to lead author Dr Karel Talavera and his colleagues, their findings could allow for the modification of the taste channel in order to achieve required tastes.
By understanding the functioning of the TRPM5 channel, certain chemicals could be added to the salad in order to mask our perception of this bitter taste," he told FoodNavigator.com.
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