We have all known for a long time the basic properties of water: transparent, clean, colorless, odorless and mostly tasteless. But does water have its own taste after all?
A new study comes to light stating that water has its own taste, which scientists even recognize as an "independent taste". The rule of five basic flavors - bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami - is now complemented by the "6th flavor", the taste of water.
The sense of taste is perceived by the taste buds, a set of cells located on the tongue, inside the cheeks and on the lips. Until today, it was known that each gourmet specializes in only one of the five flavors, sending the necessary information to the body for food selection and better digestion. In each taste bud are the taste buds, where the flavors are recognized and information is transmitted to the brain and stomach through the taste buds.
At this point the researchers looked for the taste buds of water, measuring the electrical stimulation of the taste buds with different flavors. The experiments were performed on mice, where they observed a nerve stimulation caused by pure water, which means that some taste cells are able to detect a taste in water. In order to find out which cells respond to water, they turned off nerve function in turn. To their surprise, when they turned off the sour cells of the sour, there was no reaction in the water.
Although there is now little indication that water is detected by the taste buds of sour taste, many scientists continue the intense debate about whether water tastes or not. Of course, more research is needed to determine exactly how humans and animals perceive the "taste of water."