Last week, a TikTok trend popped up that was even weirder than the usual ones on the video-sharing site.
Scores of people were posting videos of themselves dipping their testicles in soy sauce, in order to ‘prove’ a longstanding theory that the appendages have taste buds.
Like the cinnamon challenge or the triangle dance craze that came before, much fun ensued. But is it rooted in any real truth?
One user, Alx James, certainly seems to think so, and his in-car soy sauce tasting appeared to produce results.
In the video, he is shocked, and exclaims ‘I can taste the salt’ and ‘that’s ridiculous’.
The revelation – or rather the interpretation of it – appears to stem from a research paper titled Taste perception: From the tongue to the testis published in 2013.
Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University found that ‘taste receptors have been found in tissues other than the tongue, such as the digestive system, respiratory system, brain, testis and spermatozoa’.
It’s not quite so simple, however.
The taste receptors found in the testicles – T1R and T2R – transmitted bitter and savoury tastes, and although the reason for them being there isn’t clear it’s thought to be something to do with fertility.
When these receptors were blocked in mice, it was found that it made them infertile, and the link is believed to be so that the receptors can protect themselves against ‘bitter’ – aka dangerous – substances.
The study concluded: ‘Bitter receptors appear to act as defence mechanisms by sensing toxic substances that are invading airways.
But even if there are confirmed taste receptors on testicles, this doesn’t actually mean that you can experience what we think of as taste through the balls.
Shamir Patel is a pharmacist and founder of Chemist 4 U, broke it down for Metro.co.uk: ‘Testicles do have taste receptors, but these are not limited to the genitals. They are actually present all over the human body, from toes to the mouth.
‘However, unlike the tongue, which has clusters of these receptors – in other words, taste buds – the receptors present outside of the mouth can’t actually distinguish or detect taste. They don’t have the ability to signal taste to the brain, meaning that dipping your testicles in soy sauce is a waste of time.
‘Anyone who believes they can taste the soy sauce is likely to be reacting to the smell.’
If you’ve ever found that you can’t taste things as well when you hold your nose, it’s because much of what we know about taste is actually smell.
If your testicles could actually taste things, you’d be imbibing fabric softener every time you put on new pants and getting a fresh palate of Radox each time you take a shower.
Sorry TikTokers, but it’s all a load of balls.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/05/testicles-really-tastebuds-12182525/
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