9-11-15
Analysis
In this lab we asked the question, "How does the structure of a carbohydrate affect its taste?" Before beginning this lab we stated that if lactose is a disaccharide made of glucose and galactose, then it will taste sweet. But we found that the sugars with less carbohydrates, basically monosaccharides, turned out to be the sweetest. Glucose, with a sweetness of 125, when combined with galactose, which only has a sweetness of 25, made Lactose, which tasted very bland, scoring a sweetness level of 0. That is why, dairy products like cheese, milk, and yogurt have a very slight sweetness and mainly have other distinct tastes. All of this data proved our hypothesis wrong, because lactose, even if it has a taste, is not sweet.
Carbohydrates are used for in different ways in animals and plants. Based on its structure, some are used to store energy and others are used to provide it. For example, fructose, a monosaccharide provides energy while lactose, a disaccharide, gives strength to bones and teeth.
Some times, three out of four testers would say there is not much sweet in a sugar but there will be that one tester who finds that same sugar extremely saccharine. One reason for this is because each person eats food from a different cuisine, based on their family, and the Indian who eats extremely spicy food will have different judgement for sweet than an Italian who eats fairly mild food. Also, some people may eat sweets more often, therefore having a high taste for the sugar rather than someone who doesn't like sweet, might find fructose, a mild sugar, extremely sweetened. Finally, the sugar was tasted after lunch, when all the tasters had a variety of foods. This contributes to the fact that each person would have a biased palate based on what they ate for lunch.
http://www.dshskoeln.de/imb/spomedial/content/e866/e2442/e7594/e7651/e7659/e7663/monodipolysaccl_ger.jpg
Some times, three out of four testers would say there is not much sweet in a sugar but there will be that one tester who finds that same sugar extremely saccharine. One reason for this is because each person eats food from a different cuisine, based on their family, and the Indian who eats extremely spicy food will have different judgement for sweet than an Italian who eats fairly mild food. Also, some people may eat sweets more often, therefore having a high taste for the sugar rather than someone who doesn't like sweet, might find fructose, a mild sugar, extremely sweetened. Finally, the sugar was tasted after lunch, when all the tasters had a variety of foods. This contributes to the fact that each person would have a biased palate based on what they ate for lunch.
According to Dr. Margolskee, who spoke for an interview on NPR, when a sugar touches the taste buds, it "stimulates these receptor proteins on the very outer tips of the sweet-responding taste cells". These taste cells are packed about 50 to 100 per taste bud and while half of the taste cells are experiencing the sweetness, the other half are retaining the bitter, salty, spicy etc. tastes from pasts foods.This is to differentiate the sweet taste from all the others.
