Why dont you taste things when holding your nose?

[PanterA]

Seriously, I have a clogged nose and couldnt taste my steak dinner. Everything that went in my mouth tasted like moist chewy nothing.

Also when people want to down something nasty they hold there nose and swallow, but as soon you let go of the nose you taste that nastiness.

I thought the taste buds are on your tongue....whats up with that?

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[McNabbShouldDie]

I just held my noise and ate a Cheez-It and I tasted it just fine.

You cant taste stuff when you have a really clogged nose because you probably have mucus coating your whole throat and mouth and such.

Or maybe there is a reason beyond my reasoning.

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[Death Metal Moe]

Well, it all has to do with nerve endings, mucus membranes and little taste buds at the back of your nose.

Once you smell something, the taste buds in your nose send a signal to your brain telling you to breathe again so that you can smell it, and taste it....to smell it......


Man, I can't even fake it. I haven't the slightest clue. All I know is I hate having a cold because I can't tase my food.

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[Aggie]

I think smell and taste have alot to do with each other, but I don't have any explanation. I know one of our very informed members will answer your question. Now that I've smoked so long I can't smell anything unless it's really strong.

And I hate that when I'm sick. I never want to eat cuz I can't taste it, I just survive on juice, crackers and soup.

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[HordeKing1]

Our sense of smell and taste are very connected. Both work via a chemical sensing system. Olfactory (smell) nerve cells are located in the upper nose and connect directly to the brain. The smell of the food stimulates these nerves, which reacts by sending the message to our brains where we identify the smell.

We identify a taste mainly by our sense of smell (although there is also some combination of smell and taste.) We taste things when the smell triggered by the food stimulates the olfactory nerves (as well as nerves in the mouth and throat) whose message is sent to the brain where the taste is identified.

When our nose is stuffed, the smell can't trigger our main source of taste and that's why our sense of taste is diminished.


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[TooCute]

You can still taste the basic salt/bitter/sweet/sour/(umami) even
with a clogged nosed. Thats it. In addition to thick mucous
preventing odors from getting to your olfactory receptors, it can
also prevent non-volatile odors (like actualy little odor molecule
particles that wouldn't on their own stimulate receptors) from
dissolving in mucous into a vapor as it ordinarily might. Ew.




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