The Agile Mind: How Your Brain Makes Creativity Happen by Bachrach Estanislao

Author:Bachrach, Estanislao [Bachrach, Estanislao]
Language: eng
Format: azw
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2016-05-25T16:00:00+00:00

I like you

Do you remember the last time you had a cold or flu? Doubtless your food lost some of its taste while you were ill. That is because approximately three-quarters of what the brain perceives as taste actually enters through the nose. Taste also protects us from potential toxins, causing reactions such as vomiting or retching when we dislike something.

The first thing we ‘savour’ is breast milk, which creates the desire for warm, sweet food. (Our introduction to the world of taste is wonderful: warmth, tenderness, caresses and love.) The receptors on our tongue are able to distinguish five different tastes: sweet, bitter, salty, sour and umami. Umami was the word used by a Japanese chemistry professor called Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 to describe the taste of seaweed. In fact its receptors are found not on the tongue but in the pharynx. Beef, lamb, soy sauce, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese also contain umami components. Certain savoury, fatty and sugary foods, including sweets, release endorphins into the brain which act as mood enhancers. A craving for carbohydrates indicates the need to increase levels of serotonin, the calming hormone. Experiments with twins indicate that cravings are genetic: identical twins that are separated at birth develop the same cravings, whereas the same isn’t true of non-identical twins.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.