Why does your saliva start to taste like blood if you ride your bike up a hill or run fast for a while?
Edit: Thanks for the Awards and the nice Comments.
Also blew up bigger than I thought!
In: Biology
Some people have provided correct and detailed explanations that I think might be a bit too high-level for ELI5, so I’ll see what I can do.
First, it isn’t your saliva that tastes like blood, it’s the air coming out of your lungs. You should notice that the taste gets stronger if you exhale forcefully.
Second, this is basically caused by your heart/lungs working way harder than they’re used to, which results in some blood getting forced into your lungs. The blood contains a lot of iron, which is responsible for that metallic taste that you instantly recognize as blood.
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