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...
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