The tongue — what's it doing in your mouth? - video Dailymotion

DW (English)

We use our tongue to speak, eat and taste our food. Its color can even reveal clues about our health. But how does it work, and what exactly does it do all day?

Transcript

00:00For the tongue, an exciting new day begins.

00:04First up, breakfast, a true highlight.

00:07Just thinking about it gets the saliva flowing,

00:10especially from the underside of the tongue.

00:13Together with other glands in the mouth,

00:16we produce around 1 litre of saliva every day.

00:20That saliva mixes with our food as we chew,

00:23kick-starting the digestion process

00:25and making it easier to swallow.

00:28While we're chewing, the tongue gets to work,

00:31inspecting what we've just popped into our mouths.

00:35The tip in particular is packed with touch-sensitive nerve cells,

00:39allowing it to analyse the texture of food with impressive precision

00:45and warn us if something's too hot.

00:49But that's just the beginning.

00:52We analyse the chemical makeup of what we eat

00:54with the help of thousands of taste buds on the tongue,

00:57each made up of about 100 nerve cells.

01:02They give us vital clues about the contents of our food.

01:06The tongue distinguishes between five basic taste categories.

01:12A sweet flavour signals energy in the form of sugar.

01:18The balance between sweet and sour tells us how ripe a fruit is.

01:23And sour fruits often contain valuable vitamin C.

01:28Umami indicates glutamate, a key component of most proteins.

01:33Salt in the right amount tastes good to us

01:35because we need it for things like sweat gland function.

01:39A bitter taste, on the other hand, is nature's warning sign,

01:44indicating toxins or spoiled food.

01:47Though a slight bitter note can actually mean the food is rich in nutrients and good for us.

01:52To make sure everything gets chewed evenly, the tongue moves food around the mouth,

02:00before eventually pushing it toward the throat to trigger the swallowing reflex.

02:04Inner and outer muscles give the tongue an amazing flexibility.

02:09Which is great, because chatting is another one of its favourite activities.

02:17The larynx sets air in motion, with the tongue shaping it into sounds we can understand.

02:23The tongue moves with incredible speed and precision,

02:26helping us shape the full range of sounds we use to speak.

02:30The tongue stays busy throughout the day.

02:36It helps clean our teeth and interacts with the world in countless ways.

02:43That's why the immune system pays close attention to what the tongue experiences.

02:49After all, it's often the first organ to come into contact with potential pathogens.

02:54The colour of the tongue can reveal a lot about our health.

03:01A white coating is usually caused by bacteria from an infection or by a cold.

03:06A yellowish tint can sometimes be linked to liver issues.

03:12And a purple or bluish tongue might signal a lack of oxygen,

03:17possibly due to a lung condition.

03:19The tongue's favourite look is bright pink.

03:24That's usually a sign that it and the rest of the body is in good health.

03:30Sometimes the tongue even makes itself known at night.

03:34Because after a busy day, if it relaxes too much, it can block the airways,

03:39putting on a noisy night-time performance.

03:42You know...

The tongue — what's it doing in your mouth?

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended