Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion General Science Discussion Forum Food Flavouring Workers Risk Lung Disease

Workers at factories that make food flavorings are at risk of a rare and life-threatening lung disease called bronchiolitis obliterans, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday

It 'is known to be caused by exposure to noxious gases in occupational settings and has been described in workers in the microwave-popcorn industry who were exposed to artificial butter
flavoring chemicals, including diacetyl,' the report read.

Five other workers in a similar flavouring industry, using flavourings such as cherry, almond, praline, jalapeno and orange have been found to have the lung Disease.

Full Story here: http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUKN2644146220070426

Thoughts***
Its very unlikely that the world has enough 'natural' flavourings to go round,-even for children.

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"You will never find a real Human being - even in a mirror." .....Mike Kremer.
.

This got me recalling that about 25% of us are "supertasters."
Blame google for this:

http://research.yale.edu/ysm/article.jsp?articleID=77

"About 25 percent of the American population is born as “supertasters,” a group with an unusually high number of taste buds. The increased number of taste buds has an interesting effect on the way food tastes. Because food preferences are influenced by taste, the extra taste buds also affect diet.

Because animal studies showed that higher apes are similar to humans in the genetic distribution of differential taste perceptions but different from humans in that all of them are “tasters,” human nontasters are thought to have somehow appeared later in evolution.

“They live in a ‘neon world’ of taste, while nontasters are in a ‘pastel world,’” explained Bartoshuk.

Supertasters have increased perception of pain and are prone to develop a pain disorder called burning mouth syndrome. In this disorder, taste and pain are not just anatomically associated in the periphery but also closely associated in the brain.

...led Bartoshuk to suspect that many other disorders are likewise influenced by taste."

After successfully using sound intensity as a proxy for measuring taste perception, Bartoshuk decided to employ brightness of the sun to relate pain across individuals. This method is useful because everyone sees the sun and perception of brightness is not lost with time.

...treated with drugs that produce the same inhibitions that taste perception normally produces in the brain."

*_*

Interesting research areas this Bartoshuk enjoys.

~samwik

p.s.
I have to hold my breath in the supermarket aisles for coffee, and fabric softeners/detergents; too strong.

So our genetic differences to taste, influences our diet, which can change our suseptibility to disease.
I have never ever heard of that before,...most interesting Samwik
My sense of smell seems more developed than taste, so I am right with you on fabric softners, and would include most perfumes.
They make me 'skirt' around, even beautiful ladies.

I think I'm one of the non-tasters. Can't smell thing other people complain about (quiet you lot, I don't mean complaints about my own smell). Very interesting Sam.

Not surprised by Mike's original post.

Does that mean that ones low sensitivity to smell, mean you can't taste?
Or have a low sensitivity to taste?

Reason I ask, is because one can interact with others over a sense of smell, but I have no real idea regarding my [b sensitivity[/b] to taste when compared to others.
My sweet, sour, bitter, chilli, etc tastes seem intact. But since we dont play 'a taste game' across the table, with others, by repeatedly diluting a taste until one or the other cannot detect it. (unlike smell, when you can see people visually react)

So how could one know how good or bad their sense of taste was?

Does good smell, mean good taste? Can you have one without the other?

I remember being told in lectures, or reading, that smell and taste are actually the same thing. Apart from a few sensations, such as bitter, when we taste something we actually smell it. The same receptors are involved. Maybe someone knows more about this or can find a link?

Terry, according to this link, it is the olfactory receptors that provide most of the 'taste':

http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/newton/tstesmll.html

"Have you ever wondered why food loses its flavor when you have a cold? It's not your taste buds' fault. Blame your stuffed-up nose. Seventy to seventy-five percent of what we perceive as taste actually comes from our sense of smell. Taste buds allow us to perceive only bitter, salty, sweet, and sour flavors. It's the odor molecules from food that give us most of our taste sensation.

When you put food in your mouth, odor molecules from that food travel through the passage between your nose and mouth to olfactory receptor cells at the top of your nasal cavity, just beneath the brain and behind the bridge of the nose. If mucus in your nasal passages becomes too thick, air and odor molecules can't reach your olfactory receptor cells. Thus, your brain receives no signal identifying the odor, and everything you eat tastes much the same. You can feel the texture and temperature of the food, but no messengers can tell your brain, "This cool, milky substance is chocolate ice cream." The odor molecules remain trapped in your mouth. The pathway has been blocked off to those powerful perceivers of smell--the olfactory bulbs."

Mike: "Does good smell, mean good taste? Can you have one without the other?"

The answers, according to the link, are "yes" and "no" respectively.

Thanks Redewenur

Indeed thanks.