Home » Scientists Say Starchy Could Be Sixth Taste Sense Added To Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Umami

Scientists Say Starchy Could Be Sixth Taste Sense Added To Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Umami

By  //  September 9, 2016

Umami is meaty taste imparted by glutamate

ABOVE VIDEO: In addition to sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami, we can taste complex carbohydrates like starch – explaining our love for pasta, rice, potatoes and bread. (New Scientist Video)

(FOX NEWS) – Wondering why a bread bowl full of pasta with fries on the side sounds like it would really hit the spot right now?

It could be a heretofore unknown sixth taste that a group of scientists claims to have discovered, Science Alert reports.

Up until now, the five tastes humans were known to be able to sense were sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

According to New Scientist it might be time to add “starchy” to that list.

Researcher Juyun Lim notes that “every culture has a major source of complex carbohydrate,” be it rice or pasta or potatoes, and it “doesn’t make sense” that humans wouldn’t be able to taste those.

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But because enzymes in our mouths break carbohydrates down to simple sugars, scientists always assumed we were just tasting sweet. Lim disputes that in a study published in Chemical Sense. 

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Up until now, the five tastes humans were known to be able to sense were sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.