Umami is frequently described as a taste that “spreads across the tongue, coating it.” Experiments on the tongue’s areas of taste receptivity have shown that sweet and salty tastes are sensed more intensely on the tip of the tongue, while umami is sensed all across it.
 
Umami also helps to reduce salt content in cooking. Numerous studies and statistics link excessive salt intake to many different lifestyle diseases. Yet food does require a certain amount of salt to taste good. Drastically reducing salt content renders food tasteless, and while we know that cutting down on salt is good for our bodies, a low-salt diet is difficult to maintain. It has been demonstrated that making use of umami allows salt content to be reduced without compromising palatability.