Inasmuch as smoking has so many other bad effects to the body such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. It might sound funny also to read that smoking affects the sense of taste. Dulling the sense of taste. A proved scientific report has recommended that people that rely on their sense of taste should try not to acquire the smoking habit. Example, perfumers, cooks, coffee cuppers etc. Also people that value their sense of taste so much, of course everybody will but not every smoker will be willing to give up their smoking habits to keep their sense of taste functioning properly.
Of course we all know that the power of taste lies on the tongue. This power is found on the small taste buds found on the tongue. Let us take a brief look into the anatomy and physiology behind this taste buds and how they work together with the nervous system to bring about the taste that we all experience whenever we shove a spoonful of anything eatable into the mouth.
The taste buds are sensory taste receptors found on the tongue, throat, and palate that helps bring about the feeling of taste. There are about 10,000 taste buds in an average person’s mouth and throat, the number is quiet increased during childhood and goes down a slope throughout life. Hence, the sense of taste of a toddler will be more powerful than that of a 40 years old man. The taste buds grow around some tiny projections of epithelium that occupy the surface of the tongue. This epithelium is called papillae. They help increase the surface area of the tongue, helps to keep the movement of food around the mouth and finally it protects the taste buds. Taste buds fix themselves around these papillae with their surface exposed so as to easily come in contact with the soluble chemicals dissolved in our saliva. These chemicals are called testants. The taste buds absorb the chemicals which strike up an impulse that is transferred to the gustatory center of the brain through neurons. The taste buds are known to detect the five elements of taste thus: Salty, sour, bitter and sweet and uremia.
According to a scientific study which was published in a journal called BMC ear, nose and throat disorders. Smoking can affect the shape of these taste buds, flattening them and making reduces the absorption of the testants. Smoking also reduces the blood supply to the tongue.
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