Why adults like the food they hated as children

When you were boy you could not tolerate the taste of broccoli, or the two fingers of wine or beer that your parents let you try in the special occasions. Suddenly, one day, you tried by chance what you had been putting aside for years and, oh, surprise! You like. How could you not handle it before? Does your memory deceive you or your taste buds they've changed?

It is quite common. And it has to do with our evolutionary process. "To understand the flavor concept"explains the producer Patrick Jones"We have to understand how it works first, you have studied it many times, but just in case: your tongue has four types of taste buds": These are a set of sensory receptors or specifically called receptors. Depending on their location in the language they have the ability to better detect certain types of stimuli or flavors. A normal person presents about 10,000 papillae Tastes that are regenerating every 2 weeks.

Taste

Taste buds send signals to your brain so that process how the food tastes Although at school the flavors were quite clear (salty, sweet, bitter and acid), the truth is that recently science has found another: the umami, which is associated with monosodium glutamate and we can see it in some cheeses such as parmesan , Serrano ham or soy sauce. "But the language does not act alone", adds Patrick Jones in 'Digg'. "It is also supported by the throat and the nasal cavities. The chemists They have food in 'aromas' and signals that also go to the brain. But, speaking of taste … we are not born with preferences or likes, then, what happens? "

As we grow, we become less sensitive to two ways: Normally, as we indicated before, the papillae are going regenerating every two weeks, but when we we are olderAlthough they continue to die, they take longer in rebuild, so you lose some ability to taste. In this way, those foods that we initially hated with all our might for blame for its taste, they lose "strength" and become diluted.

We have gustatory memory. If a food that we were passionate about makes us sick, we will not enjoy it so much the next time

"This decline begins in both sexes when they meet the 40"explains Jones." And the same thing happens with smell. In the case of children, they have so developed the sense of smell and taste because, evolutionarily, this prevents them from possible choking. The sweet they like it because it has calories and sugar what they need to be able to grow. According to doctors, the more we expose ourselves to a food, our receivers of flavor, they will get used to it ".

It also has something to do with the psychology. Our brain remembers a food as it was the first time, this means that if for example we eat a carrot that is more crispy and then another that will not, will catch our attention a priori this change. With the flavors that we do not like, if we start to take them regularly, we will start to get used to it and we will end up changing our mind.

From the age of 40 we lose flavor, and that is why we have better food than, as children, and by an evolutionary process, we did not

"Imagine you do not like asparagus, -and let me tell you that you're a monster if that's the case-, if you decide to take them with the stuffy nose you will not notice its taste so much and then your body will begin to experience the improvements that this food produces. Congratulations, now you are positively predisposed to eat them. Your body knows that it will feel well if you take them, and for that reason they will begin to like you ".

Another way, he says, is putting together flavors who like others who do not. For example, coffee and sugar for dilute the bitter taste. "Of course, it also works to the contrary," he explains. "If you take something that you liked a lot and you get sick It is very likely that I will stop being funny. Your brain will associate it with the last time you ingested it and you will not enjoy it so much in the future"he concludes.