The article explores the interesting phenomenon of sour taste and its biological impact, specifically the salivation response when consuming acidic foods like lemons and vinegar. This response is a protective mechanism against acidity to help neutralize it in the mouth. Interestingly, microbiologist Katie Wu suggests that our affinity for sour foods may stem from an evolutionary need for vitamin C, as humans lost the ability to produce it millions of years ago, making sour foods significant in our diets.
"... about 60 million to 70 million years back in our family tree, we lost the ability to produce vitamin C ourselves, whereas most other mammals can do this ... a lot of sour foods happen to have vitamin C. And that's one idea. Maybe we love sour food to keep ourselves flush with vitamin C."
The body's reaction to sour is an interesting experience, and one of the few where even just thinking about it can be a trigger.
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