Did You Know? Science shows you have a “Starchy Taste” sense
If you’re like us, you love to feed your carb cravings with healthy pasta meals. While at Pasta Fits we have plenty of reasons why we want to eat pasta, there may be a scientific explanation for why you crave carbs. A recent study has found that carb foods may qualify as a new taste. Starchy may be considered the “sixth taste” that our tongue registers, included among salty, sweet, sour, bitter and the most recently added, savory, tastes.
In the past, many food scientists have attributed carbs as part of the sweet taste. However, even when given a compound that blocks sweet taste, subjects were able to identify a starch-like taste. To study this taste, food scientists tested this theory by giving a group of volunteers a range of different carbohydrate solutions and found that after taste testing, the volunteers identified a starch-like taste in the solutions, by a range of descriptions including cereal-like, bread-like, cracker-like, pasta-like and rice-like. The fact that participants were able to identify this starchy taste without the sweet taste receptor suggests that starch may be its own taste group, separate from sweet.
While evidence is pointing towards starch being a new taste, it cannot officially be named as the sixth taste until meeting specific criteria, including being recognizable, having its own set of tongue receptors, and triggering a physiological response. Although starch may not be an official taste just yet, we’re fine giving into these cravings all the same!
To read the full study, click here.
