According to an Australian specialist, humans prefer umami, sweet, and salty tastes | Press

The finding was made based on a study that analyzed the facial responses of babies to certain foods.

Australian taste perception specialist and author of the book Taste Matters (not yet available in Portuguese), John Prescott, argues that humans have natural preferences for certain tastes. Sweet, salty, and umami – the fifth basic taste of the human palate – would be the favorites, while bitter and sour would be rejected.

According to Prescott, this finding was made based on a study that analyzed the facial response of babies to certain foods. “When exposing babies to vegetable soup, we noticed that their lips puckered, the food was spat out, their noses wrinkled, and they gagged,” he exemplifies.

From there, the researcher and his team added an umami substance to the soup, whose main characteristics are to balance other tastes and make preparations more appealing to the palate. “With that, the result was completely different: they started licking their lips, and the food began to be chewed instead of spat out,” explains the Australian.

UMAMI ACCEPTANCE
John Prescott also explains the factors that determine the good acceptance of the umami taste: “It promotes the intake of essential nutrients such as proteins, and its substances assist in the process of generating energy for the intestine.”

Glutamate, the amino acid that provides umami, is an essential energy source for intestinal development. It aids in cell division, which is very important since the human intestine renews itself roughly every five days. In other words, in addition to providing the fifth taste, glutamate also contributes to the proper functioning of the human body.

UMAMI TASTE
The umami taste is the fifth basic taste of the human palate and was discovered in 1908 by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda. However, it was only recognized by the scientific community in 2000, when researchers at the University of Miami found specific receptors on taste buds. The amino acid glutamic acid and the nucleotides inosinate and guanylate are the main substances that confer Umami. Parmesan cheese, tomato, mushrooms, and meats in general are foods that contain these substances in large proportions and therefore have the fifth taste more prominently. The two main characteristics of Umami are increased salivation and the lingering taste for a few minutes after eating the food.