Voice-over:
Tradition sets the menu for most Thanksgiving meals. But taste researchers say when it comes to
piling it onto one’s plate, there’s a reason some eaters steer clear of the cranberry sauce or that
hefty helping of dark meat. University of Florida researchers say fans of fine food everywhere
actually fall into three main categories: supertasters, medium tasters and nontasters.
Supertasters live in a “neon taste world,” experiencing three times the sensation of bitterness, sweetness or spiciness in foods compared with nontasters. Medium tasters fall between these two extremes. Experts say these groups… beyond explaining why coffee is too bitter to tolerate for some, while others can’t get enough of four-alarm chili… could contribute to disease development later in life.
Dr. Linda Bartoshuk / UF taste researcher
“The fact is what you’re born with in terms of what you taste affects what you like to eat, which changes your diet, and diet is a risk factor for a lot of diseases and that has not been studied properly in the past.”
Voice-over:
U-F scientists say further taste research might help prove once and for all how diet affects a
variety of diseases. For example, a recent study by the researchers used a simple test… a strip
that varies in bitterness-- it tastes intensely bitter to super-tasters and like paper to nontasters… to categorize 250 men getting routine screening tests. The men who tasted the paper as the most bitter had the most colon polyps, a risk factor for colon cancer, possibly because of their disdain for some bitter vegetables that are thought to help lower cancer risk. Experts think taste status could one day contribute to predicting the likelihood someone will develop heart disease, obesity and alcoholism.
Dr. Linda Bartoshuk / UF taste researcher
“It may turn out that this is an extremely efficient, quick way to check to see if there is a diet component to any particular disease.”
Voice-over:
At the University of Florida Health Science Center, I’m Mike Garrison
