Sour Taste Feeling By Tongue

Everyone has tasted sour food， but how much do you know about it？

Is Sour Food

Equal To Acid Food？

Whenever it comes to sour， are lemon and hawthorn the first fruit in your mind that make your mouth running water？ They are the very typical alkaline food， so the acidity or alkaline of the food is not simply determined by its taste， but by the acidity and alkaline of the final metabolin after food is intaken into human body. Many food with sour taste， such as lemon and sylvite in water， after metabolism can generate carbondioxide and water and then expel from the body， leaving alkaline elements， such as potassium， sodium， calcium， magnesium and others， inside the body， the sour food ， actually， are base-forming food. Sour-forming food includes rice， wheat， meat， egg， sugar， liquor and others； while alkaline-forming food contain seaweed， vegetable and fruit.

Why we feel

sour taste？

Sour agent can provide sour taste to food and generally it can fall into organic acid and mineral acid. As for organic acid， it includes acetic acid， citric acid， malic acid， lactic acid and others； while inorganic acid generally refers to phosphoric acid. Whether it be the former or the latter， they have the same mechanism to produce sour taste： when they are soluable in aqueous solution， with the influnence of hydrone， it can dissociate hydrogen ion（H+） which will excite taste receptors （in the oral cavity） and then conduct to pivot of gustation of brain by nerve sensing system， in the end， produce sour taste after analyzing by brains comprehensive central nervous system. Organic acid is more acid than inorganic acid in the same value of PH.

Is it good to eat

more sour food？

The normal value of PH is 7.4 for human blood， slight alkalinity， which provides the best condition to all kinds of physiological activity that organism required. Sour fruits and sour food like sweet and sour dishes can generate alkaline metabolite in the body， which can neutralize the effect of sour food， making the blood running with normal slight alkalinity. As the same time， these organic acid produce a sour asmosphere， making calcium， Ferrum， zinc dissolved state of inorganic ion， which go into cell of intestinal mucosa easily， with absorbitivity increased multiplying， and is good for the absorption of inorganic salt of food for the organism.

Why people with

hyperacidity are not

suitable to eat sour food？

The frequent drinking sour beverage and vinegar tends to make parietal cell of gastric musosa in an excited state by frequent stimulation， leading to oversecreting too much gastric acid， meantime， because the beverage and vinegar which contain sour compound like malic acid， citric acid， acetic acid and others can change power of hydrogen of local environment of human body. People with hyperacidity， especiall when they take alkaline medicine（such as sodium bicarbonate，magnesium oxide， gastropine and others） which can neutralize gastric acid， they are unable to drink sour drinkings so as to oversecrete gastric acid and reduce pharmacological function.

Malic acid and

citric acid， which is

better food acidulant？

Malic acid and citric acid are widely spread in nature. The former usually exists in juice of unripe hawthorn， apple and grape； while the latter can usually be found in fruits of citrus， lemon and lime in particular. The sour taste from citric acid is pleasant and cool but cant last for long， and the flavor of malic acid is sour taste with slight bitter. Compared to citric acid， the process of producing and vanishing slowly. As an important element to natural juice， by comparison， malic acid has the following properties： high acidity（20% stronger than citric aicd）， but with a smooth taste（with relatively high buffer index）， and produce less heat， better taste. So it is called the most desirable food acidulant in the nutrition field， which has a momentum of replacing citric acid.

Can it be effective to

lose weight by eating

more vinegar？

Rice and sorghum has been main materials to produce vinegar. After proper fermentation， fluid containing carbohydrate（sugar， starch， cellulose） turns into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. While alcohol interacts with a certain bacteria in the air， combining with oxygen in the air， and then acetic acid and water are produced. The major element of vinegar is acetic acid， and others including calcium， amino acid， succinic acid， gluconic acid， malic acid， lactic acid， vitamin B complex， salt and other nutritional ingredients to human body. Amino acid can promote excessive plethoric fat turning into physical exertion， it also has the funciton of digesting sugar and protein intaken by human body so as to enhance metabolism， increase gastrointestinal motility. A cup of cold boiled water with a little vinegar every day can solve the problem of difficult defecation. Doing this for a few weeks will improve constipation. Wastes in our body can be expelled and we can lose weight， too. When cooking ， putting less salt by adding a little vinegar will not make people feel that it is not salty enough， and they will feel very delicous instead， this is because adding a little vinegar in the salt solution will make food a little salty. On the other hand， the reduction of intaking salt will lead to less water and food so as to obtain the goal of losing weight. Proper amount of vinegar is helpful to digestion， but it is not a good idea to taking vinegar as a means to lose weight.

From the above-mentioned， we know that sour food is not acid food， so we should pay much attention to the difference in our daily life. Eating food with sour taste is good for our health， but one thing needs to be kept in mind， maybush is delicous， but youd better not take excessive amount！