00:00You try a new restaurant with your best friend, he appreciates all the dishes, but you, you do not support all these tiles that they put in the main dish.
00:08The cook swears that she only put a little bit and that no one even noticed it.
00:13It seems familiar to you? Well, it's that your sense of taste is super developed.
00:18It may not be as cool as the superpowers we see in the cinema, but know that only 25% of the world population has this ability.
00:27It's simple, the more taste buds you have, the more you feel intensely the tastes, especially the bitter ones.
00:34You may have twice as many taste buds as the average, between 2000 and 4000, and not just on the tongue.
00:41It is also found on the palate and the walls of the mouth, throat and esophagus.
00:46These sensory cells are renewed every week, probably in the evening I imagine, because it is at this moment that we eat with the most pleasure.
00:54If you want to check if you are actually a super-taster, put a little blue food coloring on your tongue.
01:01If you count more than 25 little pink circles at the place where you poured the coloring, it means that you have more taste buds than most people.
01:09The blue coloring does not adhere to it.
01:12You probably know that there are 5 main tastes, sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami, which means tasty.
01:21But scientists have decided that this was not enough, and have proposed to add a new taste to the list.
01:26Nothing very poetic, it's fat.
01:29This bad boy that makes you want everything that is creamy, buttery and similar to bacon.
01:34Of course, fat is not so delicious when consumed alone, but it really enhances the flavors that accompany it.
01:41Study fat as a taste in its own right could help scientists understand why it is so pleasant, and why many people eat too much.
01:51For a flavor to enter the category of fundamental tastes, it must meet certain criteria.
01:56It must first have its own receptor on our tongue, and this receptor must be endowed with a certain subtlety.
02:03The human tongue has receptors for fatty acids.
02:06Some people and some animals are even able to tell the difference between different types of fat.
02:11But as knowing this is apparently not enough, scientists have decided to conduct tests.
02:16Volunteers have had tweezers placed on the nose, so that they are no longer able to perceive odors.
02:22Researchers then poured milk on their tongues, containing different percentages of fatty matter.
02:27The milk is creamy and has not caused any reaction.
02:30The brain has slightly reacted to the whole milk.
02:33The cream, which contained the largest amount of fatty matter, triggered an instantaneous reaction in the brain.
02:39Just like the sweet and salty tastes.
02:42This seems quite convincing, but things are not so simple in the scientific world, so much so that fat is still not officially our sixth taste.
02:50Your taste buds are not the only ones to play an important role in the perception of taste.
02:55Many chemical substances help your brain to interpret the signals emitted by your tongue.
03:00Thousands of years of evolution have taught us humans to consider the sweet taste as good, and the bitter taste as bad.
03:07Because most dangerous foods are bitter.
03:10This is why we are so sensitive to bitterness.
03:12This allows us to avoid foods that could harm us.
03:17But genetics also plays a role in your food preferences.
03:21Even before your birth, you get used to the foods that your mother likes.
03:25In addition, no one has exactly the same genes of the taste buds.
03:32This is especially the case for the bitter taste, which influences your food choices.
03:37Each of the 25 genes of the bitter receptor captures a different group of chemical substances.
03:42Things are therefore more complicated than saying, I hate everything that is bitter.
03:47You can at the same time love pamplemousse, and hate coffee for example.
03:54Propylturacil is also used in the genetic study of the perception of the bitter taste.
03:59Those who are insensitive are more likely to like spicy and fatty foods.
04:03On the other hand, some people are unable to perceive the bitterness of foods.
04:07Conversely, some perceive almost all tastes, including sweet, such as bitter, bitter or metallic.
04:14All of this greatly affects our food choices.
04:17Studies have shown that if you are more sensitive to bitterness, you risk eating less vegetables.
04:24There are tastes that no one wants to know, like decomposition meat.
04:29But experiments are carried out to scientifically evaluate the stages through which this type of food passes as it degrades.
04:36In order not to have to impose this horror on poor volunteers, scientists have designed an electronic language capable of imitating the taste buds of the human being.
04:47This electronic language can distinguish tastes such as sweet, bitter, salty, tasty, all the richness of foods, using sensory membranes.
04:56And the results are really objective, because genetics or personal preferences do not influence analysis.
05:04Have you ever brushed your teeth, then drank an orange juice without tasting it?
05:10This is just an example of how you can modify your taste buds.
05:14The food you have just eaten can influence the flavor of the next dish, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
05:22Indeed, your taste buds are sensitive to their environment, and you can modify it, depending on what you put in your mouth.
05:31If even a single molecule reaches the right taste bud, a message will be sent to the brain, so that it activates one of the taste sensations.
05:39Pretty simple, isn't it?
05:41But scientists still don't know exactly how our tongue distinguishes salt from acid, and sugar from umami.
05:47There must be a lot of interaction between the brain and the taste buds for this to be possible.
05:54Let's imagine that you are eating an artichoke, and then you are drinking a glass of water.
05:58You will notice that your water suddenly tastes slightly sweet.
06:02This is because the artichoke contains a substance called synarine, which attaches to your receptors of sweet taste, but without activating them.
06:10When you drink water, the molecules suddenly wake up, and send a message to your brain.
06:16And then you feel like you've eaten something sweet.
06:20If brushing your teeth gives a strange taste to orange juice, it's because of another substance contained in your toothpaste, the one that foams the product.
06:28Scientists think that this component plays with the membranes of your taste buds, and adds a bitter taste to your favorite juice.
06:37The fruit Miracle is truly exceptional. It gives an extremely strange taste to what you eat.
06:42The special substance it contains, Miraculine, adheres to your tongue and gives a sweet taste to acidic foods.
06:48Your tongue always recognizes the bitter taste of food. But Miraculine is so powerful that it literally drowns this signal.
06:57Coriander is probably the most discussed taste on the internet.
07:01For most people, it's a mixture of parsley and citrus.
07:05Chefs from all over the world add it to their dishes.
07:08But for some, it has a strong taste of soap, dirt, crushed insects, or metal shavings.
07:16Not something you would add to your pasta, is it?
07:19It turns out that it's still a matter of genetics.
07:22People who can't stand the taste of coriander, present a genetic variation that makes them particularly sensitive to the soapy components of coriander leaves.
07:31It is interesting to note that this genetic modification is less common in the countries where coriander is the most popular.
07:38In Central America and India, for example.
07:41And it is in East Asia that people are the most skeptical about coriander.
07:46It would therefore seem that this is also related to geography and culture.
07:51What would you say now about a dessert?
07:53Do not worry.
07:54Even if you feel satiated after all the flavors you have just discovered,
08:00I'm sure you still have room for a delicious dessert.
08:04Scientists have proven it.
08:06When you eat something, for example a soup or a salad,
08:09you are first excited by its flavor.
08:12But at some point, you feel like you have had enough of this particular taste.
08:16And when the dessert arrives, your brain is all excited.
08:20A new flavor?
08:22This amazing taste of ice cream, cake, chocolate and company
08:25pushes your brain to ignore the signs of satiety for the sake of pleasure.
08:29It needs excitement, and it will get it.
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