

If you were to hold your nose really, really tight and eat a strawberry, for instance, you will detect sweetness and a sourness, depending on the variety, but you will not be able to tell me whether that is a strawberry. "Our tongue has taste buds and receptors within those that can only detect five different sensations: sweetness, sour, saltiness, bitter, and this kind of savory taste called umami. When we eat food, it is completely natural for us to assume, as people, that all the different flavor sensations we are perceiving, so chocolate, nutty, strawberry, apple, milky for example, are all being detected through the taste buds on our tongue, but this actually isn't the case. This has a significant impact on how we perceive flavor in food and drink. "The second system we have for smell is something called retronasal olfaction.

The role of smell in our lives - retronasal olfaction So for example, gone off or spoiled food, potential gas leak, or smoke or fire. But this system's also really important because it's almost like a warning system of any potential dangers around you. "This allows us detect the smells in food, for example, the smell of freshly baked bread, or the smell of freshly brewed coffee, which in turn then stimulates our appetite and increases our desire to eat or drink. The first is through something called orthonasal olfaction, which allows us to detect smells from the world around us, which are literally just sniffed up through the nostrils in our nose. As humans, we detect smells through two separate systems. "Our sense of smell is extremely important and we often don't realise just how important it is until we've lost it or it's gone.

The role of smell in our lives - orthonasal olfactionĬrofton talked about the role of smell in our lives.

(This piece includes excerpts from the conversation which have been edited for length and clarity - you can hear the discussion in full above). Dr Emily Crofton from Teagasc, a researcher specialising in the area of sensory science, and Declan Casidy from the Tasteless Cuisine support group joined the Ray D'Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 recently to discuss this. Some of them have got it back, others have got it partly back and others haven't got it back at all. One of the big things that came out of the pandemic was that many people who got Covid also lost their sense of smell. This article first appeared on RTÉ Brainstorm recently. Dr Emily Crofton,Teagasc researcher joined the Ray D'Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss Some have got it back, others have got it partly back and others haven't got it back at all. One of the big things that came out of the pandemic was that many people who got Covid also lost their sense of smell. Botanic Gardens College of Horticulture.
