Can your taste buds 'adapt'?!


Question: Can your taste buds 'adapt'!?
I've noticed that I've been able to eat spicier and spicier foods!. Can your taste buds condition themselves to a flavor!? Or did I just burn them all off with chilis!?Www@FoodAQ@Com


Answers:
I wouldn't say you burned them out, but you have conditioned them!. About two years ago I started making a lot of food with harbanero peppers!. The first few times I used them, my lips throbbed from the heat!. Now I'm accustomed to it, it is still as hot, but somehow the brain/pain indicator has become used to it, so it doesn't signal me as critically anymore!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

I've noticed that if I eat hot foods *consistently*, I can work my way up to hotter and hotter versions and larger amounts, but have those foods register as the same amount of heat as the earlier less spicy ones!.

As an example, the DH and I used to go to one Mexican restaurant we loved, but their salsa was too hot for me!. I needed something to eat with my chips though, so I started using just a little!. We went every week without fail, and I began to notice that I could put more and more salsa on that chip without feeling it was too hot!.

For those people who genetically can't take chiles easily though (like me), the effect seems to wear off too since once we moved and I didn't consume the heat regularly, I began to lose my built-up tolerance more and more :-(


Diane B!.

P!.S!. It helps to have milk, sour cream, or even cheese nearby if you've had a bit too much chile!. Even now, if I've made something too spicy, or have ordered something that turns out that way, I'll put a bunch of sour cream on it or drink milk between bites and that helps a lot!

I've heard that bread and beer can work the same way, but they never worked as well for me as the milk products!.

!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

children taste buds are up to 8 times more sensitive than adults so as you grow older you'll be able to handle spicier and spicier foodsWww@FoodAQ@Com

yes i believe they do becasue when i was little i didnt like alot of food but the food that i hated when i was little i love nowWww@FoodAQ@Com

I think they change as we age!.Www@FoodAQ@Com





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