Eli5: Starch and Cellulose are Polymers of Sugar, what’s the reason behind them not being sweet?
In: Chemistry
If the sugar molecules are bound to each other, they can’t bind the tase bud.
Think of the sugar and the tase bud having a secret handshake, a fancy one that requires both hands, for sake of fitting the analogy. And bunch of sugars come in a daisy chain holding each other’s hands. They can’t do the handshake.
If glucose (or another very simple sugar) is a key that fits into your “sweet” receptor, then cellulose is like a bunch of keys welded together end-to-end. It won’t fit in that lock until the keys are separated. Some of that “unwelding” can happen in your mouth with digestive enzymes in your saliva, so that starchy foods can have a little sweetness to them. But more fibrous foods aren’t going to taste sweet because your mouth can’t break that down into simple sugars which fit your taste receptors.
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