Why foods seem less sweet when they’re cold

Man naturally has an aversion to bitter taste, and conversely a attraction to sweet taste. However, the flavor sweetness is perceived much less intensely when the food is cold. For example, experiments have shown that a piece of pie seems less appetizing when it is eaten directly after being taken out of the oven. fridge than tasted at room temperature. Only the ice cream has the power to stay so appetizing right out of the freezer, but that’s precisely because its texture quickly warms up and melts in your mouth.

The taste is perceived thanks to the taste buds, each concentrating several hundred buds taste, in which the taste receptors linked to neurons are housed. However, we do not measure any difference in the activity of sweet taste neurons when the temperature of a food is varied. So why this difference in sensation?

The sugar signal inhibited by other taste neurons

The mechanism for detecting sweetness is very complex. Sugar is felt by specific receptors, but the temperature is perceived by bitter taste receptors and by mechanosensory receptors, which also detect texture and hardness food. When cold food comes in contact with the tongue, these two receptors are activated and “inhibit” the signal sent to the brain by the sugar receptors, thus making food less attractive.

Sugar is not the only flavor accentuated by heat. the salty taste and sourness are also amplified by temperature, a steaming soup appearing saltier than a gazpacho for the same amount of salt added. Many other factors also affect the taste of food, including genetic differences, but also the color, the smell, the atmosphere in which we eat, etc. The threshold of perception of sugar is also very different according to the individuals: some appreciate their Coffee sugar free where others need three pieces.