An Educational Blog Is A Healthy Blog

So a couple months ago Terry (who is just FULL of random and interesting knowledge, as well as full of other stuff) mentioned that he had heard somewhere that our Taste Buds change every 7 years or so. Hmmm….interesting.

I decided to do a little research on the subject. It is not that I don’t trust what my husband says but sometimes he will be so convincing and make you believe something that is completely false just because he thinks it is funny that you believed him. So therefore, I always double check.

What I learned is that your taste buds may not change exactly every 7 years but you will go through periods where your tastes change. The main reason is that when you were a baby, you had taste buds, not only on your tongue, but on the sides and roof of your mouth. This means you were very sensitive to different foods. (Hence kids not liking brussel sprouts!) As you grew, the taste buds began to disappear from the sides and roof of your mouth, leaving taste buds mostly on your tongue. The average person has about 10,000 taste buds and they're replaced every 2 weeks or so. But as a person ages, some of those taste cells don't get replaced. An older person may only have 5,000 working taste buds. SO, as you get older, your taste buds will become naturally less sensitive (you may have even fewer taste buds because of things like medications, smoking, not getting enough of the right vitamins) so you will be more likely to eat foods that you thought were too strong as a child.

On average you will notice some changes in taste about every 5 to 7 years. It is also reported that along with your taste buds changing so do the olfactory nerves in your nose. Apparently the nerves wear out over time, so they need replacement. Just like skin or hair or the cells of the rest of the body. Therefore causing your tastes to change as well.

Example from me: Up until about a 1 – 1 ½ years ago I hated avocado….nah loathed them. I didn’t like the texture, the taste, their look. Then I was out and decided to try guacamole and I LOVED it. I now want to eat avocados on anything I can and just love them.

So there you go. Your semi-educational tidbit for the day.




(Or maybe I am just really BS-ing you to make you believe this is true?!?! No No, it is true……………….or is it?)