Why Is Sweet and Salty Such a Tasty Combo?

Although it's not universal, a sprinkle of sea salt atop a chocolate chip cookie can make a simple snack transcendent. Learn why our brains dig the combination of salty and sweet in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/sweet-and-salty-taste-good.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain
Stuff Laurina vogel Bomb Here. Think about salted caramel ice
cream with chunks of pretzels in it, kettle corn melon
wrapped with perscuto, or dates stuffed with cheese, or pineapple
fried rice, or the classic combo French fries dipped in

(00:24):
a milkshake. If you're like me, this is making you
very hungry. The marriage of salty and sweet is one
that feels like it shouldn't work, and for some people
it doesn't, but for others, it magically and deliciously does.
We can't get enough of it. Too much sugar is
overly intense, and too much salt is rinse your mouth

(00:44):
out puckering. But when you mix the two, the combination
is heavenly. So what's the science behind this phenomenon? First,
let's talk about how our sense of taste works. We
have five primary types of taste receptors in our mouth
and nose, sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and savory or umami. Umami,

(01:06):
by the way, comes into our lexicon from Japanese. It
was coined by the chemist who first isolated MSG or
monosodium glutamate in nineteen oh eight. He wanted to sell
MSG as a food supplement that could make bland but
nutritious food more appealing, so he derived the word umami
from a colloquial word for tasty. So yes, umami is
a Japanese marketing term from the nineteen ox Anyway, a

(01:30):
contrary to what you probably learned in elementary school, each
taste bud on your tongue can sense all of these flavors,
and other nerve endings around your mouth and nose can
as well. Our bodies evolved with taste receptors for good reasons.
We detect sweetness in order to help fuel our bodies
with carbohydrates. We taste bitter to hypothetically protect our bodies

(01:53):
from something potentially damaging, though lots of us decided that
we dig the mild danger there, and we take salt
to provide our bodies with a necessary nutrient. Now you've
probably heard that you're supposed to watch your salt intakee
and if you eat a lot of processed or pre
made foods, you probably should. But the sodium in salt

(02:13):
is necessary for a few of our bodily functions. It
helps your cells and organs maintain their proper fluid balance.
It's used in the contraction and relaxation of your muscles fibers,
including you know your heart, and it transmits nerve impulses.
You need some sodium in your diet, and since sodium
molecules are fickle, the best way for us to get

(02:35):
it is via salt. And salt isn't just a nutrient either,
it's a flavor enhancer. So it stands to reason that
if you mix sugar and salt, the salt will enhance
the sugar flavor. A chef's and flavor scientists call this
flavor layering, and the right mix, not too sweet not

(02:56):
too salty, gives your brain a positive biological response. Part
of this positive response can be chalked up to a
set of experiences called sensory specific desire and sensory specific satiety. Okay,
because humans are omnivores, and because there are a number
of nutrients that our bodies need that we cannot make

(03:17):
ourselves and thus need to consume through food, we are
wired to desire a variety of foods and tastes. A
meaning will eventually tire of the same taste over and
over again. So if you gorge yourself with sweets, and
only sweets, you'll stop wanting more after a while, and
the same goes for salty, you'll satiate yourself on that flavor. Conversely,

(03:42):
studies have shown that eating a bunch of sweet stuff
can make you crave different flavors like salty or spicy,
and eating a bunch of salty stuff can make you
crave sour or sweet. So when you layer flavors, you're
scratching more than one itch at once. Your brain is
left us bored or overwhelmed by any single flavor, so

(04:03):
the combination is more craveable. Food scientists use this in
the creation of packaged snacks to make us want to
keep eating. It works with textures too. Treats are nice,
just watch your portion sizes. The positive side of this
slightly sinister food design trick is that when you're done
with a snack that involves a salty sweet flavor duo,

(04:24):
you might be less tempted to reach for another different
flavored food. Today's episode is based on the article why
do sweet and salty taste so good together? On HowStuffWorks
dot com, Written by Deborah Ronca, with additional material from
my other podcast saver. Brain Stuff is production of by
Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and

(04:46):
is produced by Tyler Klang. But for more podcasts my
heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. M