OJ and the Pucker Effect

Everyone loves a glass of OJ in the morning, right? But, what we don’t like about it is the pucker effect it has when we take the first sip. Have you ever wondered what makes that glass of OJ after you brush your teeth make you feel like you just sucked on a huge lemon?

Believe it or not, there has actually been a study done on just that.

First, you need to look at your toothpaste. Depending upon what brand you use, the toothpaste will have flavorings as well as ingredients to add texture and body to the toothpaste. Then, of course, there are the obvious ingredients, such as water, fluoride, some abrasive agents to help remove plaque, and detergent.

If you just did a double take at the word “detergent,” you are not alone. But rest easy, this is not Tide pods we are talking about. The detergent is a safe to consume cleansing agent that is in most toothpastes. But, that ingredient and that ingredient alone is more than likely what has you sour over your morning orange juice.

The detergent used in toothpaste is sodium lauryl sulfate. While it works great cleaning teeth, it does affect your taste buds too. Taste buds are capable of distinguishing four different tastes (some believe five):

• Bitter (towards the back of the tongue)
  
• Salty (just beyond the tip of the tongue, towards the side)
  
• Sour (the middle to rear sides of the tongue)
  
• Sweet (the front tip of the tongue)
  
• Umami (which means savory, not widely recognized, but believed by many to be at the center part of the tongue)
  

The sweet receptors on the tongue are basically nullified by the detergent. So, if you happen to take a quick drink of orange juice not long after brushing, your taste buds are incapable of actually tasting the sugar in the orange juice, so all you get is a big burst of the citrus.

So, if you want to have that orange juice and not actually look like you swallowed a handful of Sourpatch Kids, rinse your mouth well after you brush to ensure all the toothpaste is off your tongue. You may also want to wait a bit before chugging down that orange juice or have a bit of something else first. Otherwise… pucker up!

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