The Effects of Pungent and Bitter Tastes on the Body

It can kill sperm and ova, causing sexual debility in both sexes. It may induce burning, choking, fainting, and fatigue with feelings of heat and thirst. By aggravating pitta, it can cause diarrhea, heartburn, and nausea. Pungency can also aggravate vata (it is derived from both the fire and air elements), resulting in giddiness, tremors, insomnia, or pain in the leg muscles.

Peptic ulcers, asthma, colitis, and skin conditions may result from excessive use. BITTER This taste is found in coffee, bitter melon, aloe vera, rhubarb, and the herbs yellow dock, fenugreek, turmeric root, dandelion root, and sandalwood. Bitter is the taste most lacking in the North American diet. It is cool, light, and dry in nature, increases vata, and decreases pitta and kapha.

Though bitter is not delicious in itself, it promotes the flavor of other tastes. It is antitoxic and kills germs. It helps to relieve burning sensations, itching, fainting, and obstinate skin disorders. It reduces fever and stimulates firmness of the skin and muscles.

In a small dose it can relieve intestinal gas and works as a digestive tonic. It is drying to the system and causes a reduction in fat, bone marrow, urine, and feces. Overuse of the bitter taste may deplete plasma, blood, muscles, fat, bone marrow, and semen and may result in sexual debility. Extreme dryness and roughness, emaciation, and weariness may be the result of excessive eating of the bitter taste.

It may at times induce dizziness and unconsciousness. ASTRINGENT The astringent taste is present in unripe bananas, pomegranates, chickpeas, green beans, yellow split peas, okra, alfalfa sprouts, and the herbs goldenseal, turmeric, lotus seed, arjuna, and alum. It is cooling, drying, and heavy in nature and produces a dry, choking sensation in the throat. Taken in moderation, the astringent taste calms pitta and kapha but excites vata.