- Scientists claim that the tongue responds to ammonium chloride
- Ammonium chloride – or sal ammoniac salt – can be found in salted licorice
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Growing up, most of us learned that there were five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami.
But it’s time to rewrite the textbooks, as scientists at the University of Southern California have discovered a new flavor.
They claim that the tongue responds to ammonium chloride in such a way that it should be considered a sixth basic taste.
Ammonium chloride – or sal ammoniac salt – is not widely used around the world, but can be found in salted licorice.
“If you live in a Scandinavian country, you will know and perhaps like this flavor,” said Professor Emily Liman, lead author of the study.
Growing up, most of us learned that there were five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. But it’s time to rewrite the textbooks, as scientists at the University of Southern California have discovered a new flavor (stock image)
Scientists have known for decades that the tongue reacts strongly to ammonium chloride.
However, until now, the mechanism behind this response has remained unclear.
A protein called OTOP1 is known to be responsible for detecting sour tastes, and the team wondered whether ammonium chloride could also cause OTOP1.
To put this to the test, they introduced the Otop1 gene into lab-grown human cells so that the cells produced the OTOP1 protein.
They then exposed these cells to acid or ammonium chloride before measuring the responses.
Ammonium chloride – or sal ammoniac salt – is not widely used around the world, but can be found in salty licorice
“We have seen that ammonium chloride is a very strong activator of the OTOP1 channel,” said Professor Liman.
‘It activates as well or even better than acids.’
Further tests on mice confirmed that those with the OTOP1 gene avoided ammonium chloride, while those without this gene did not mind the taste.
“This was really the deciding factor,” added Professor Liman.
‘It shows that the OTOP1 channel is essential for the behavioral response to ammonium.’
Since ammonium chloride does not occur naturally in many foods, the researchers wondered what the benefit of tasting it is.
Professor Liman suggests that the ability to taste ammonium chloride may have evolved to help us avoid eating harmful substances with high concentrations of ammonium.
‘Ammonium is found in waste products – think of fertilizer – and is somewhat toxic,’ she says.
‘So it makes sense that we have developed gustatory mechanisms to detect it.’
The researchers caution that this is very early research, but hope their findings will encourage further research.
‘Who knows? Perhaps ammonium chloride will join the other five basic flavors, bringing the official number to six,” they added.