Do People with Lower IQ Have Weaker Taste Perception? A Hidden Supplementary Table in ‘Is the Association Between Sweet and Bitter Perception Due to Genetic Variation?’

This paper is about Nick’s contribution to the field of taste genetics, how I became involved and how a study on the genetic association between the perception of sweetness and bitterness ended up examining the influence of intelligence on taste perception.

The relationships between phenylthiocarbamide taste perception and smoking, work out habits and susceptibility to depression

Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) is known as phenylthiourea and it is an organic compound that has the phenyl ring. Ability to perceive the tastes of PTC chemical is related to the dominance of taste genes. There are a large number of population studies regarding the PTC taste perception and different personal characteristics or disease conditions. The purpose of this study is to reveal and compare the relation between the PTC taste perception and work-out habits, smoking, alcohol consumption and tendency to the depression of people. A total of 2500 adults were volunteered to be included in this study. PTC taste perception was measured by tasting with PTC solution (10 mg/L) filtered in a paper. It showed that tasters were significantly more frequent (81.8%) than nontasters (18.2%) in all population. And in some parameters analyzed in this study, there are significant differences. The taste genetics show up with environmental factors and create the sense of taste, which develops the feeding behaviors. The taste perception resulting from food and beverages diversifies by genetic and environmental effects and the nervous system interprets this perception. This study is enlightening in terms of presenting that the taste perception of people affects their lifestyles and lead them to start and either continue or discontinue some habits.

Bitter taste genetics – the relationship to tasting, liking, consumption and health

Bitter is the most complex, and arguably the most important of human tastes; however the complex relationships to health and disease are yet to be fully elucidated.