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What's The Purpose Of The Umami Taste? We May Finally Have An Answer

John McQuaid
This article is more than 5 years old.

I'm the author of the new book Tasty: The Art and Science of What We Eat, which explores the science of taste, culinary history, and the future of food. There’s a lot written about the food system, but a great deal less about the inner workings of taste and flavor (the merging of taste, smells and other senses), though when we think about food, that’s really where the action is.

The umami taste is both a food fad and a biological phenomenon. It’s a basic taste – so named because scientists have found specific protein receptors on the tongue that detect it – a savory, meaty sensation common to cooked meats, cheeses, fish sauce, and other fermented foods. It's launched burger chains and endless culinary debatesinnovations, and tips. But the biological purpose of the umami taste is something of a mystery. The other four basic tastes – bitter, salty, sweet, and sour – signal "mmm!" or "yuck!" to stuff animals encounter while foraging (or both in the case of low vs. high concentrations of salt). The unpleasant taste of bitterness, for instance, seems to be a sign to avoid potential toxicity; sweetness a signal of sugars and the quick energy they provide. Umami is generated by glutamates, amino acids the body already produces. Some think it’s a “protein taste” because it predominates in cooked meats. Maybe.

Now, scientists at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan may have found one of umami’s biological functions: it makes food delicious. This may sound intuitive to the point of counter-intuitiveness: we already know that glutamates harmonize and synergize tastes and smells, creating a more intense and pleasurable flavor experience. What the Tohoku study demonstrates is how important that effect is: not merely a fringe benefit but essential.

Scientists tested 44 clinic patients who complained of an impaired sense of taste. They found 16 percent of them, all over 65, had lost some umami sensitivity, while their other tastes remained intact. (This is a novel discovery; standard tests for taste impairment measure the other basic tastes via chemical-infused paper – but not umami, a recent addition to the list of basic tastes; the Tohoku scientists had to invent their own umami test.) These patients all suffered from a loss of appetite, weight loss, and poor health in general.

This, the scientists suggest, indicates that the umami taste plays an important role in the basic palatability of food, and thus in overall health. When it is impaired or diminished, flavors lose their luster and eating becomes a chore. Many of these causes and effects overlap; some patients had diabetes, gastric problems, or depression, problems that can influence taste perceptions; some were taking medications known to contribute to taste problems or a lack of saliva. Umami, meanwhile, stimulates the salivary reflex: it’s literally mouth-watering. And when patients were treated for dry mouth, their umami sensations improved, and with it, their eating habits and health.

Umami, in other words, lies at the juncture of our conscious sensations, the state of the appetite, gut (which also contains umami-sensing receptors), and body. It's not clear yet exactly how those things all fit together, but umami appears to be an important piece.

Most of us think of the pleasure in food as a form of indulgence: nice, but not necessary, and often destructive when it leads us to eat that slice of cheesecake. In fact, it is a biological imperative. Start to lose it, and the whole body suffers. The meaty, brothy flavor of umami, diffuse and yet powerful, may be an important driver in keeping us healthy and alive.

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