There are five tastes sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. Their perceptions are mediated by taste cells in the tongue. The perception of spiciness, however, is mediated by free nerve endings in the tongue.

1. FOOD AS MEDICINE:
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
TASTE AND SPICINESS
By
Kevin KF Ng, MD, PhD
Former Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Clinical Pharmacology
University of Miami, Miami, FL.,USA
Email: kevinng68@gmail.com
A slide presentation for HealthCare Provider April 2021
TRPV1

2. What is taste?
▪ Taste is a sensation produced by taste cells in the buds.
▪ There are 4 basic taste: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
▪ Umami was recognized as a fifth taste in 1990.
https://owlcation.com/stem/Did-you-know-that-spicy-is-not-a-taste

3. Structure of taste bud and its afferent nerves
https://owlcation.com/stem/Did-you-know-that-spicy-is-not-a-taste

4. New type of taste cell discovered in taste buds (2020)
https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/239621.php
Most taste cells selectively respond to a specific
stimulus type while broadly responsive cells
respond to multiple taste qualities.

5. Receptors for bitter and sweet taste (2002)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii
/S0959438802003458

6. What is spiciness?
▪ Spiciness is a sensation of pungency, heat
or hotness caused by chili peppers.
▪ In contrast to taste cells, spiciness is
produced by the action of capsaicin on
TRPV1 receptor on the free nerve endings.
Free nerve endings

7. Neural pathway for taste and spiciness
https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2020/10/11/a-magic-in-the-tongue-from-substance-to-taste/

8. Summary
▪ Taste is caused by stimulation of taste cells in the buds.
▪ Spiciness is caused by capsaicin on free nerve endings