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Topic - Taste Buds

We have five thousand taste buds. They aren’t those little things on your tongue that stick out. Those are called papilla and they contain your taste buds. We’ve learned that various taste sensations are all over the tongue because different types of cells within each taste bud are responsible for interpreting various flavors. The whole tongue gets into the act to detect salty, bitter and sweet. Sweet is the only taste that uses the same brain pathways as the drugs involved in addiction. Drugs of addiction actually take over the part of the brain that evolved for tasting food. Did you know sweetness blunts pain and reduces crying in babies? That whole “spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” has been proven by science. Smoking reduces your ability to taste. People who stop smoking enjoy food again. Keep your tongue healthy by brushing it and keeping your teeth clean.