The tongue is often an overlooked part of a person’s body. Many people are negligent towards its hygiene and do not know more about this important organ that is responsible for a number of important tasks,  from tasting scrumptious meals to giving and receiving pleasure. Here are some interesting facts about the tongue.

• The muscles present in the tongue are the only ones in the human body to work independently from the skeleton.

Sigmund/Unsplash. We can sense five distinct tastes: sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami

• There are five kinds of flavors the human tongue can taste and differentiate. These are, sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami (savory).
• The length of an average human tongue is around 3 inches.
• Sleep apnea is often caused by tongue fat. Losing weight leads to a thinner tongue, which results in better sleep quality.
• Similar to fingerprints, no two tongue prints are the same. Even identical twins do not have the same tongue prints, though they might be similar.
• A quarter of the world’s population has a heightened sense of taste, specifically for bitter foods. They are thus called the ‘supertasters’. Interestingly enough, another 1/4^th of the population has less sensitive taste buds and are called the ‘non-tasters.’

Nathan Hanna/Unsplash. Children have more taste buds than grown-ups

• Infants and children have more taste buds in the mucous membranes of the lips and cheeks as compared to adults. Adult taste buds, apart from being on the tongue, are also present at the back of the throat, nose, the epiglottis, and all the way to the top part of the esophagus.
• It is often believed that only certain parts of a human tongue can taste. The truth is, taste buds are present all over the tongue. That being said, some parts may be more sensitive than others, such as the sides that are more prone to sense taste than the middle of the tongue. Finally, the bitter taste is better perceived at the back of the tongue.

DaModernDaVinci/Pixabay. We have around 10,000 taste buds on our tongue

• There are around 10,000 taste buds present on the human tongue. On average, these taste buds decay and regrow every ten to fourteen days.
• In order for your tongue to taste the food, the saliva first needs to moisten it for sensing the taste better.
• The tongue can lose and gain weight in proportion to the rest of the body. The weight of the tongue is often correlated with obesity and can be a measure of how physically massive a human being is.
• In Tibetan culture, sticking out one's tongue is a form of greeting.
• The human taste buds are also a product of evolution. The development of the bitter and sour taste buds was for our species' survival–so that man could taste anything poisonous or harmful.