Question

Is there any difference in how sugar and food taste if your nose is blocked? if so, why might this be happening?

Answer 1

HELLO FRIEND HERE IS YOUR ANSWER,,,,,,,

Yes, there is a drastic difference in our taste. This is because of the integration of both, the organs of taste or tongue, organs of smell or nose. The olfactory system here plays an important role because almost 80 percent of what we smell through our olfactory lobes are then judged by the things we taste.

The receptors picked up by our olfaction detects specific odours which goes upto "1 trillion" scents. Each and every aroma of food you ever get sets off a particular signal to the nerves of the olfactory system which further routes to the bulbs of the olfactory system (said before). Women have often keener sense of smell than the Men and when the desire for food is arisen the Women are often more hungry than the men.

By taking the food odour or smell inside or sniffing it or inhaling the odours on the foodstuffs the odour is actually detected and described by a personalised route above the Nostrils and passes just through it along with the posterior nares or nostril start points is called as $\textbf{"Orthonasal Olfaction"}$. After mastication or masticating the food after long chewing process and swallowing the food in the odours or the chemical combination is broken to release the "chemical smell" and the detection and description or identification of it is done through another route which is above the nasopharynx or nasal and pharyngeal path to the turbinates is called as $\textbf{"Retronasal Olfaction"}$.

There is a patch of epithelia called the olfactory epithelium just above the bony structure of turbines of nasal cavity. The chemical odours are bonded to receptions of the epithelium making certain electrical signals to the epithelial cells in olfactory epithelium,, this starts of the iconical channels or passages in the epithelia to open and shut mechanism. When a ion channel is open the concentrated chemical odour is increased by the help of positive ions this causes depolarisation of ions and electrons making the bonds weak and breaking the information in small packets of odours received to express via neurotransmitters from the olfactory cells. This gives a nerve response to the neural system which are then in a relay response or transmitting information across the body by a relay nerve and hence are given throughout the organ called brain. Every odour has different chemical make up or bonded relative absoluteness or a meaning to a specific epithelia of the olfactory epithelium and olfactory cells. So because of this every odour received to the epithelium generates a unique peculiar response or impulse for every odorant you have ever received,, this makes the olfactory receptors in a unique combination and hence you can get more than 1 trillion of smells!!!

Neural adaptation can also occur in olfactory system as it happens in taste system too (discussed in my previous question). This makes a stronger smell more dominant and those which are below the level or under the same level of it equal or more or less much decreased in odour content. Sensory system and Olfactory system and taste system, etc. should have this to make the bulk of response lowered which helps the system to get rid of $\textbf{"System Overload"}$.

And again coming back to the topic of smell + taste combination, the sense of flavour is actually needed to have a full on sensory, lively and atmospheric experience of eating a food. If the sense of smell is missing or permanently missing then it is termed as $\textbf{"Ansomia"}$ and some people dont pick up the specific odour this makes them feel that smell odourless this is called or termed as $\textbf{"Specific Ansomia}$ this makes the enjoyment and experience less interesting and makes every food taste quite blunt or close to neutral. The total perception and accommodation of sense + taste is the flavour of a food, which is to be maintained for dining and sensory experience.

HOPE IT HELPS AND COVERS ALL THE POINTS OF OUR SMELL OR OLFACTION RESPONSE!!!!!!

Answer 2

Our receptors doesnot work properly when we are having cold. So, we are not able to smell food when our nose is blocked