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Saliva and taste are linked as saliva transports food molecules to taste buds. Saliva breaks down food structures and contains enzymes that dissolve complex chemicals. Saliva also plays a role in identifying food textures and can cause burning sensations when eating spicy foods. Abnormal saliva production or thickness can affect taste and smell.
Saliva and taste are linked because saliva secretions are needed to transport food molecules to corresponding receptors in the taste buds. Normal saliva softens food so it can be swallowed easily. It also breaks down the structures of different foods and releases these molecules. The tongue contains clusters of taste buds that pick up on salty, sweet, bitter, and sour flavors. When a flavor molecule binds to a receptor on the taste buds, signals are sent to the brain that identify each different flavor.
Most of healthy human saliva is made up of water, but it also contains important enzymes that dissolve the complex chemical structures of various foods. Saliva and taste both play key roles in the ability to identify various food textures such as grainy or smooth textures. An enzyme called salivary amylase helps break down starches from foods like bread and rice, and scientific studies have shown that different people have varying levels of this enzyme in their saliva. A person with higher levels of salivary amylase will often have a perception of the taste and texture of a particular food. Someone else with lower levels of this enzyme may have very different perceptions of the taste and texture of the same food.
An interaction between saliva and taste is also linked to the burning sensations people feel in their mouths when they eat very spicy foods such as peppers or certain sauces such as horseradish or wasabi. These types of foods register as hot and even painful because saliva acts as a catalyst between pain receptors throughout the mouth and molecules of food chemicals like capsaicin found in chili peppers. This catalytic action also makes possible the release of endorphins in the brain of people who like to eat these types of spicy foods. Sensitivity to these spicy flavors is generally thought to be hereditary.
Saliva and taste are connected to the nervous system as well as smell to register specific tastes whenever someone eats any type of food. A common sign of illness or injury affecting the ability to taste and smell is abnormal saliva production or thickness. The salivary glands can sometimes develop cysts from lesions on the sides of the face where the glands are located. Frequent respiratory infections and the development of benign nasal growths called polyps can also contribute to loss of taste even when saliva secretion is normal.
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