9 interesting facts about saliva
- Saliva contains the enzyme amylase that breaks some cooked starch down into sugar.
- A person cannot taste food unless it is mixed with saliva. For example, if strong-tasting substance like salt is placed on a dry tongue, the taste buds will not be able to taste it. As soon as a drop of saliva is added and the salt is dissolved, however, a definite taste sensation results.
- 1.7 liters of saliva is made in your mouth for one day.
- In the saliva there are chemicals called enzymes.
- To make saliva, we need salivary glands.
- Human saliva is composed of 98% water, while the other 2% consists of other compounds such as electrolytes, mucus, antibacterial compounds, and various enzymes.
- The human body produces roughly 10,000 gallons of saliva in an average lifetime and our saliva has a boiling point three times greater than that of regular water.
- Cobras, vipers, and certain other members of the venom clade hunt with venomous saliva injected by fangs.
- There is much debate about the amount of saliva that is produced in a healthy person per day; estimates range from 0.75 to 1.5 liters per day while it is generally accepted that during sleep the amount drops to almost zero.
