They discover a new taste, but it is much more unpleasant than umami.

Remember the famous taste map you studied at school? Forget it, it’s a myth. Aromas are not distributed over parts of the tongue, since they are all felt over its entire surface. Now we can say for sure that there are certain substances that create different tastes, and which can be divided into several types. They talked about this before sweet, salty, bitter and sour. Later, umami was added to this list. And now, according to new research, another one may be part of it: ammonium chloride.

This is something interesting because ammonium chloride This is a toxic substance for humans. This leads to the consideration of something unthinkable that can be considered as a scent. But if we think about it, it becomes clear that we have evolved to detect it and thus escape from it.

After all, there are other tastes, for example bitter, which have the same evolutionary purpose, but we eventually developed a taste for them. As for ammonium chloride, there are products that taste the same. First of all, this happens with salted licorice, widely used in sweets in some Northern European countries, as well as in the Netherlands and Northern Germany. People in these places are usually very familiar with the taste and even find it pleasant. Why is this considered a new flavor and not other toxic substances that we should avoid?

Detection of taste: from danger to pleasure

Aromas are perceived when certain molecules interact with receptors in the taste buds. It is known that the same receptor can distinguish different tastes. For example, sweet and umami They are perceived by the interaction of different molecules and amino acids with the same receptors. Both feel very good, but the signals reaching the brain are not the same, so they independent tastes.

In the case of ammonium chloride, it has long been suspected that it binds to the same receptors as the substances responsible for sour taste. Now a group of scientists from University of Southern California Dornsife showed that indeed both molecules interact with a protein called OTOP1which acts as a receiver.

They watched him in grow tongue cells in the laboratory and observe which receptors were activated upon contact with molecules associated with sour taste or ammonium chloride. It was this protein that was activated and began to send signals that, in the whole organism, enter the brain.

Can we now add ammonium chloride to this list?

Despite this study, which was just published in Natural communications, we cannot yet add ammonium chloride to list of tastes.

This is something that takes a lot of time. Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda described umami as a new taste back in 1908. However, it was not until 1957 that the full scientific evidence distinguishing it from other flavors was described. It even took several more decades for him to be added to the famous list.

And it may seem that there are a lot of tastes, but mostly these are mixtures of already known ones. For example, strawberries taste very different from lemon, but both fruits contain substances that react with acidity receptors. In the case of strawberries, there will also be substances that interact with sweet receptors. The result is very different, but it is still a combination of the simplest.

Initially it was assumed that the same thing could happen to umami. However, some Kikunae students eventually demonstrated that food contains very specific substances with umami taste which interact with sweet receptors, but in a different way. The signals sent to the brain are different and therefore it tastes different.

Should all toxic compounds be flavored?

Many toxic compounds, such as ammonium chloride, have a taste. unpleasant. But these are aromas that are also generated in our brain by interacting with receptors associated with already known aromas. They are usually bitter, but they also contain many toxic compounds, such as those that taste sweet.

However, the case with ammonium chloride is different. It has already been established which proteins it reacts with and what reaction it causes. These scientists saw that OTOP1 opened to form a channel through which hydrogen ions circulated. This happens differently than with acid and signs that reach the brain are different.

Therefore, if it can be demonstrated with even more evidence, it could be classified as a sixth flavor. That time has not yet come, but these scientists are closer than Kikunae was in 1908. Although they also have more advanced research tools, it must be said. Let’s not take this credit away from him.