Change of Tastes

Whether a person enjoys a certain taste or not is not a matter of personal choice, it is actually a brain response. In fact, studies have been done, as explained in the article, that found that pleasure from a specific taste is simply a result of fast firing rate of neurons emitted from the ventral pallidum portion of the brain. The higher the firing rate, the more pleasure the person will feel in response. The frequency of the neuron emission changes depending on the homeostatic state of the body at the time, therefore changing a person’s tastes. If a body is extremely salt deprived, the ventral pallidum will have a very fast neuron firing-rate when the mouth tastes salt water and the person will enjoy the salt water. Conversely, under normal conditions the body would not find pleasure in tasting salt water. The discovery of this pleasure region of the brain will be helpful in later years in both brain mapping, and in finding treatments for those who do not feel normal pleasure.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061030183127.htm