Flavor in the gut!

Been working madly on the book about our flavor system,* and enjoying a paper that discusses how our taste-sensing system interacts with the gut.** 

Believe it or not (and you should believe it—nature can be very parsimonious!) hormone-secreting cells in the gut (endocrine cells) have the same receptors for sweet, umami, bitter, and fat as does the tongue. Once you eat something with one or more of these qualities, these cells encounter what you have eaten and secrete their hormones: 

• glucagon-like peptide that enhances insulin secretion so you can handle sugars; 
• cholecystokinin, which contracts the gall bladder, releasing fat-emulsifying bile into the intestine, so you can handle fats; 
• and ghrelin, which, among many other functions, makes you feel rewarded for eating what you have just consumed and make you hungry for more. (Yes, it may help you overeat!)

* Did you take the survey about the book? — if not, please do! You can find it at:

https://apps.facebook.com/my-surveys/form/survey-for-a-project-on-tea-and-tea-pairing?from=admin_wall

** Sara Santa-Cruz Calvo & Josephine M. Egan. The endocrinology of taste receptors. Nature Reviews Endocrinology 11, 213–227 (2015) doi:10.1038/nrendo.2015.7