Where does the salty taste in tears come from?

When we feel particularly sad or touched, tears will flow from our eyes. Men cry relatively less often, while women cry relatively more often. Sometimes tears flow out like a fountain and end up in the mouth, at which time a salty taste appears. Therefore, people also know that tears taste salty. So where does the salty taste in tears come from?

Tears are salty. Because there is salt in tears!

After testing and analysis, scientists found that in addition to 99% water, human tears also contain a little salt. There is salt in many parts of our body. In addition to tears, there is salt in the bright red blood, and even human sweat is salty, but some places have more salt and some places have less salt. There is more salt in the blood than in the tears!

The salt in tears also has the effect of killing bacteria and disinfecting! The bacteria that usually hide in the eyes can no longer do bad things once they are washed away by tears.

The method of trace analysis found that in people's tears, 99% is water and 1% is solid, and more than half of this solid is salt. No wonder it tastes salty! It turns out that there is a gland the size of a little finger on the upper outside of the eyeball, called the lacrimal gland. The lacrimal gland uses blood as raw material and produces tears after processing. We know that human blood, body fluids and tissue fluids all contain salt, so it is not surprising that tears made of blood contain salt. Salt makes up 0.9% of blood and 0.6% of tears. Tears contain not only salt, but also enzymes that can dissolve bacteria, which has a bactericidal and slightly disinfecting effect on the eyes.

In addition, the surface of the black eyeball is often coated with a thin layer of tears, which can moisten the cornea and prevent it from becoming dry and turbid due to direct exposure to the air.