Overview of Tongue and Diarrhoea

The Biology Topics of ecology involves studying the relationships between living organisms and their environment.

Identifying Signs and Symptoms of Diarrhoea

Tongue

The tongue is a fleshy muscular organ in the mouth which is attached at the back to the floor of the buccal cavity (mouth cavity). It is free at the front and can be moved in all directions. The various functions of the tongue are as follows :

1. The tongue helps in mixing saliva with food during chewing (which is essential for the digestion of food).
2. The tongue helps in swallowing the food into the food pipe.
3. The tongue helps in getting the taste of food.
4. The tongue is essential for talking (or speaking).

We have just said that the tongue helps in getting the taste of food. Let us discuss it in somewhat detail. There are four types of tastes: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. For example, sugar solution has a sweet taste, common salt solution has a salty taste, lemon juice has a sour taste whereas an extract of neem leaves or bitter gourd (karela) has a bitter taste. The cold, strong and unsweetened coffee, and medicines like aspirin also have a bitter taste.

The tongue has taste buds which detect different tastes of food. In fact, our tongue has four kinds of taste buds which detect sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes. The taste buds for each of these tastes are located in different parts of the tongue. Thus, all the parts of the tongue do not sense all the four tastes. Different parts of the tongue are sensitive to different tastes. Figure shows the positions of different taste buds on the tongue.

1. Most taste buds at the front of the tongue detect sweet and salty tastes. The maximum effect of sweet taste is felt at the tip of the tongue whereas the maximum effect of salty taste is felt just behind the tip of the tongue (see Figure).
2. Most of the taste buds on the sides of the tongue detect sour taste (see Figure).
3. Most of the taste buds at the back of the tongue detect bitter taste (see Figure).

We can distinguish between ice and ice cream (even with our eyes closed) from their taste. A piece of ice kept on the tongue will appear to be tasteless whereas a piece of ice cream will give a sweet taste.

Diarrhoea

The condition in which a person passes out watery stools frequently is called diarrhoea. Diarrhoea is called ‘dast’ in Hindi. Diarrhoea may be caused by an infection (due to disease-causing micro-organisms), food poisoning or indigestion. Diarrhoea is a kind of disease. Diarrhoea is very common in India particularly among children. In fact, diarrhoea is one of the major causes of death of small children in our country.

Diarrhoea leads to the loss of water and salts from the body of a person (through frequent watery stools). The loss of water from the body of a person through watery stools is called dehydration. The sudden loss of too much water (or dehydration) makes a person dangerously ill in a very short time. Excessive dehydration of body caused by diarrhoea can even lead to death. So, diarrhoea should never be neglected.

In order to prevent dehydration, the person suffering from diarrohea should be given a solution of sugar and salt in clean water, many times a day. The solution of sugar and salt in water is called Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) (because it is given to the person orally, through mouth). We can make an oral rehydration solution ourselves by dissolving a teaspoonful of sugar and a pinch of salt in a glass of clean water.

The water used for this purpose should be first boiled and then cooled (so as to make it germ-free). Oral rehydration solution makes up the loss of water and salt in the body. The sugar gives energy which helps in speedy recovery. Thus, the dehydration of body can be prevented during diarrhoea by giving oral rehydration solution regularly to the patient. Meanwhile, a doctor should be called in for giving medicines to cure the cause of diarrhoea.