Why food tastes better when you are hungry

Have you ever wondered why the food tastes incredibly delicious when you are famished? National Institute of Physiological Sciences in Osaka, Japan published details of a study which explains the relationship between appetite and taste. It was published in the popular peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Communications.

As per this report, tongue's ability to taste flavours enhances when we are really hungry. The sensation of the taste receptors on the tongue is high. It is common that we crave sweet or salty food when we are hungry. However, that doesn't mean that we would be averse to sour or bitter flavours. This is the reason why even sour or bitter food tastes good when we are famished.

Appetite is related to the hypothalamus in the brain. Thirst and sexual drive, too, are controlled by this gland. When we feel hunger, the neural circuit in the hypothalamus lowers the bitterness of food and makes desserts even sweeter. The agouti peptide neurons near the hypothalamus get activated when a person is hungry. This would then spread to the taste buds on the tongue as well.

Sweet cravings

Last year, a similar study revealed that the amygdala located in the brain is what controls your cravings for sweet. The study said that it is possible to control this set of neurons which play a pivotal role in processing the emotions.

The researchers further explained that it is possible to control flavour discriminations such as aversion to bitterness or affinity to sweetness. This study was conducted on rats which reacted in the same way to bitterness and sweetness after their amygdala was controlled. It is possible to differentiate between the flavours or tastes; however one wouldn't be able to show preference or aversion to any particular flavour. It is almost similar to a kind of indifference, even after knowing or tasting the different flavours.