Testicles Have Taste Buds

And the testicles like sweet stuff apparently and also love the “umami” flavor. I had no idea, either.

From the DailyMail here:

Testicles have taste buds that can detect sweet flavours – and they’re essential for reproduction.

Scientists say that, despite being a long way from the mouth, taste receptors on the testicles and anus can also detect the savory taste of umami – the amino acid in soy sauce.

Researchers had no idea why the body parts had the receptors until they tried to breed mice without them for a study on taste.

Their accidental discovery showed that male mice were rendered infertile when they were missing the proteins GNAT3 and TAS1R3 or were given a substance to block them from working.

Having only one of the proteins means the male mice can still breed, but it turned out that when both of the proteins were missing, the sperm struggled to swim and the testes became malformed.

So what are your balls tasting today?