Enhanced Bitter Taste Perception May Influences Your Choice Of Food

A new study has shown that there may be a link between taste perception an sodium consumption. Taste perception is not something someone thinks of when it comes to thinking about what they chose to eat.  In another study done, it "showed that people who have one of the two most common variants of gene (TAS2R38) that enhances bitter taste perception are likely to avoid heart-healthy foods with bitter properties, such as broccoli and dark leafy greens." In these study a total of 407 participants were selected. Each participant had two or more risk factors that contributed to heart disease.

The study was being done to see if any other food choices were influenced by this enhancing bitter taste perception. Compared were participants with the gene enhancing variant and the others without. The study revealed that a person with the gene enhancing variant was likely to eat twice as much salt as a person with normal taste perception. The results from the study showed that the only thing that changed was the consumption of sodium. Alcohol, sugar and even fats all stayed the same. Ingesting that much salt over years can take an impact on the human body without a person even knowing. The gene enhancing variant may be the first of many to be discovered. In the future taste perception variant may play an important role in explaining why a person eats certain things compared to another individual.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161113160331.htm