There's a reason your tongue hurts after eating sour sweets

Love yourself a packet of sour sweets? Us too!

But does your tongue ever hurt a bit after eating them?

You know, when it feels tingly and a little bit sore?

Well, it turns out theres a reason for that, and it's a little disconcerting...

So delicious, but ouch! (Credit: Getty)

It turns out the citric acid - aka a compound found naturally in lemons and other citrus fruits - is to blame.

Why can citric acid hurt your tongue when you eat sweets?

Citric acid is found in powdered form in many of these sweets, typically in the sugar coating.

It's also used in baking, to give a sour flavour, or even on popcorn.

Whilst it's fine to consume, it is mildly corrosive, which means that it can disturb the papillae (which are those little bumps) on your tongue when it touches them directly.

It's not something that's likely to cause any longterm damage when consuming the sweets at a normal rate, but prolonged contact can impact the nerve endings on the tongue, which is why they start to feel tingly and sensitive.

This means that lollies are the biggest issue, as you're literally holding them against your tongue throughout the whole process of consuming them.

Sour sweets have an acid in it which can corrode your tongue (Credit: Getty)

Can sour sweets make your tongue peel?

In rare instances, sour sweets can even make your tongue peel.

Chrissy Teigen was one celeb to draw attention to this back in 2020, with a video on her socials, and OUCH.

"Eating so much sour candy that my tongue is falling off," she said in the vid.

"It's literally falling off because I eat so much in the night. I eat sour straws, I suck on them. Then after them, I have my Blow Pops, and it's just falling off," she said.

Of course, it wasn't actually falling off, but it was peeling due to the amount of candy she was eating.

Chrissy Teigen proves what happens when you eat *too many* sour sweets (Credit: Instagram/ Chrissy Teigen)

The good news is this peeling is actually the tongue healing from the corrosion and means you'll soon be able to eat the sweets again (in moderation, obvs).

It's generally nothing to worry about, however painful and icky. You just have to let your tongue fully recover!

How to stop your tongue hurting when eating sour sweets

If your tongue hurts, that means there's probably too much prolonged contact between the sweets and your tongue – or, in other words, you're scranning too many!

Take a break until your tongue doesn't hurt any more, then you can get involved again.

The trick is to drink lots of water (or milk) after eating sour sweets, too, as this mitigates the affect of the acid.

Sipping water in between sucking on any sweets also helps.

Featured image: Getty