A new type of taste? Researchers say there may be a sixth

BOSTON - There may be yet another basic type of taste.

We generally know about the five - sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami - but a team of researchers at University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Scientists discovered there may be one more.

They found that the tongue responds to ammonium chloride, which is apparently a popular ingredient in some Scandinavian candies, namely salt licorice. 

They say that the ability to taste ammonium chloride might have evolved to help organisms avoid harmful substances because ammonium is somewhat toxic. 

But with further testing, perhaps one day ammonium chloride will be added to the official list of tastes.

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Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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