Researchers have found specialized receptors on the tongues of mice that detect calcium, leading them to hypothesize that humans have the calcium-dedicated receptors, too. It may be time to add calcium to the types of tastes — sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory — that can be detected by humans [HealthDay News].
But in another twist, most mice don’t like the taste, lead researcher Michael Tordoff says. Tordoff and his colleagues gave 40 different strains of mice a choice: They could drink water or a calcium-rich liquid. Most preferred water once they tried both. There was, however, one exception—a mouse strain called PWK actually preferred the calcium-enriched liquid. Those mice, it turned out, had a different version of genes that are responsible for taste receptors on the tongue [Scientific American].
