Interesting facts about saliva

October 21, 2009 | In: Medical facts

A person cannot taste food unless it is mixed with saliva. For example, if strong-tasting substance like salt is placed on a dry tongue, the taste buds will not be able to taste it. As soon as a drop of saliva is added and the salt is dissolved, however, a definite taste sensation results.

In the saliva there are chemicals called enzymes.

1.7 liters of saliva is made in your mouth for one day.

To make saliva, we need salivary glands.

The human body produces roughly 10,000 gallons of saliva in an average lifetime and our saliva has a boiling point three times greater than that of regular water.

Our taste buds are 100 times more sensitive to bitter tastes than to sour tastes, and over 1200 times more sensitive to bitter tastes than to sweet or salty tastes!

Scientists think that our unusually high sensitivity to bitter tastes helps protect us from eating poisonous foods, which often have a pronounced bitter flavor.