London: A new study has helped researchers discover the longstanding secret behind how human brain perceives taste.
The Columbia University team found that the brain has specialist neurons for each of the five taste categories - salty, bitter, sour, sweet and umami, the BBC reported.
So the separate taste sensors on the tongue had a matching partner in the brain. It was also mentioned that only the tip the tongue can taste sweet was a myth as each of the roughly 8,000 taste buds scattered over the tongue are capable of sensing the full suite of tastes.
But specialized cells within the taste bud are tuned to either salty, bitter, sour, sweet or umami tastes. Prof Charles Zuker said that reflection of the taste cells in the tongue is responsible in ageing population that they can't enjoy the taste.
Stem cells in the tongue produce new taste cells every fortnight. However, this process becomes weaker with age.
The study is published in the journal Nature.
