Discover: Taste

We perceive tastes when chemicals inside the food we eat are detected by our taste buds and signaled to our brain. The intensity of that signal is influenced by many factors, including your DNA. It’s important to be aware of how you perceive taste because it influences your food choices, and your diet impacts your overall health and wellness.

Taste Perception

The TAS2R38 Gene And Bitter Taste

It is estimated that about 40% of our preference for bitter foods is attributed to genetics. Sensitivity to bitter taste has evolved as a natural warning system to protect the body from harmful substances in foods. However, many foods that are also really good for us, like cruciferous vegetables, have a naturally bitter taste and are loaded with nutrients such as Vitamin C, E, and K, beta-carotene and fiber. Coffee or beer also have a bitter taste.

The TAS2R38 gene contains instructions for a protein, or taste receptor, that can detect the bitter chemical present in vegetables like broccoli and brussels sprouts. Depending on their genetic variant, some people can detect these bitter chemicals and therefore taste bitterness in such foods, while others cannot. Some people are more sensitive to the bitterness of food than others and genetics plays an important role.