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Topic: Supertaster

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	Supertaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Supertasting is physiological rather than psychological, as supertasters have much higher concentrations of taste buds on their tongue than normal tasters.
		Researchers determine whether someone is a supertaster, nontaster, or normal by gauging their reaction to propylthiouracil, also known as PROP, a bitter substance used medicinally in the treatment of hyperthyroidism.
		On the positive side, however, supertasters generally do not enjoy alcohol or coffee, and thus are at considerably less risk of conditions like alcoholism and caffeine addiction.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Supertaster (328 words)

	Health Report - 6/9/1997: Super Tasters
		So when you taste sugar out of the sugar bowl, supertasters perceiving twice the sweetness at least than a non-taster is. A variety of bitters, including the caffeine in coffee are related to this; the bitter of saccharine is related to this.
		For example, we can predict that supertasters will dislike coffee and espresso, and if they drink coffee they'll be drinking coffee with milk and sugar and adding thereby more fat and sugar to their diet.
		Alcohol is more bitter and more irritating to the tongues of supertasters, and there is an old observation in the literature that we find quite interesting, and that is that alcoholism has been associated with non-tasting; for a very long time, that result's been in the literature.
	www.abc.net.au /rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s369.htm (2547 words)

	The Telegraph - Calcutta : At Leisure
		While supertasters may be coffee drinkers they’re not as crazy about the taste as non-tasters or medium tasters, Bartoshuk said.
		“Supertasters who don’t like bitter foods are at risk by avoiding some anti-cancer foods,” she told reporters at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
		The supertasters could barely keep the paper in their mouth for a few seconds, medium tasters were not that bothered and non-tasters couldn’t figure out what the excitement was about.
	www.telegraphindia.com /1030216/asp/atleisure/story_1675629.asp (335 words)

	* Are You a Supertaster? *
		Here's the bad news for supertasters: your health may be at risk because of the way food tastes to you.
		Supertasters tend to dislike broccoli, cauliflower, and dark green vegetables.
		Researchers monitored the health history of supertasters versus the general population and found, among older men especially, a greater number of polyps in their colons.
	www.urbachletter.com /Archive/Health_0309_Supertaster.htm (362 words)

	What predicts which foods we eat?
		She named them “supertasters” and soon determined that she could distinguish that group from tasters and tasters from nontasters by looking at their tongues.
		Supertasters have the most fungiform papillae—the rounded structures on the tongue that house the taste buds, which send information about flavor and texture to the brain.
		The supertaster gene may be a remnant of our evolutionary past, which once acted as a safety mechanism to help humans avoid toxins and other unhealthy foods, researchers contend.
	www.apa.org /monitor/jan98/food.html (1183 words)

	Bloggle: The Coffee Odyssey
		Supertasters - those lucky few who pack an extra parcel of taste buds on their tongues - are apparently at an increased risk of a number of cancers.
		supertasters don't like the taste of foods that are good for them.
		While the article above suggests that supertasters don't care for coffee [it's too bitter] the truth of the matter is that there's quite a number of supertasters involved in the coffee trade.
	www.bloggle.com /coffee/2003/02/now-theres-double-edged-sword.php (245 words)

	A Matter of Taste
		But taste is not so simple: supertaste may be too much of a good thing, causing those who have it to avoid bitter compounds and find some spicy foods too hot to handle.
		"'Super' connotes superiority, but supertaste often means sensory unpleasantness." In the course of her research she has relied on volunteers and colleagues to perceive what she cannot, such as the difference in creaminess between skim and 2 percent milk.
		Also, supertasters tend to crave neither fats nor sugars, which probably helps explain why researchers have found that supertasters also tend to be slimmer than people without the sensitivity.
	smithsonianmag.com /smithsonian/issues04/aug04/phenomena.html (1188 words)

	The Word Spy - supertaster
		These "supertasters" avoid the bitter but healthful flavonoids that abound in broccoli, grapefruit, and other good-for-you food, so they have a greater risk of cancer.
		On the other hand, supertasters tend to be thinner, with lower risk of cardiovascular disease, because they also avoid very salty, fatty, and sugary foods.
		Nontasters — about 25 percent of the population — can't taste the bitterness in PROP at all; medium tasters — about 50 percent of us — taste the bitterness but aren't bothered by it; supertasters — the remaining 25 percent — are overwhelmed by the bitterness in PROP, to the point of revulsion.
	www.wordspy.com /words/supertaster.asp (431 words)

	New Scientist Breaking News - 'Supertasters' diet raises cancer risk (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-11)
		Supertasters also find highly fatty or sugary foods less palatable that nontasters and tend to be slimmer.
		Supertasters were already known have a higher risk of gynaecological cancers, but the link to colon cancer had not previously been established.
		Although supertasters tend to eat less fat, those with a history of ear infections had an increased liking for high fat foods, and were usually heavier.
	www.newscientist.com /article.ns?id=dn3396 (451 words)

	APS Observer - A Matter of Taste
		To the befuddlement of supertasters, nontasters remained impossibly unaffected; vice versa, nontasters seemed convinced that their fellow participants were engaged in an Oscar-worthy display of histrionics.
		It is precisely this stark contrast that led Bartoshuk to study the anatomy and genealogy of supertasters — what she discovered along the way were potential health implications associated with the characteristic.
		Supertasters rated it very loud, between a boombox and a baby crying, while nontasters matched it lower, between a shout and a boombox.
	www.psychologicalscience.org /observer/getArticle.cfm?id=1617 (1147 words)

	Life's Little Questions: Why Are Peppers Hot?
		She divides people into three groups: supertasters (25% of the population), medium tasters (50%) and nontasters (25%).
		According to her research, supertasters have many more taste buds per square centimeter, which enables them to experience the taste, temperature and texture of foods more keenly than nontasters.
		Supertasters can also detect gradations in fat; for example, they can taste the difference between skim and whole milk.
	www.pbs.org /safarchive/4_class/45_pguides/pguide_904/4494_peppers.html (611 words)

	Supertaster (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-11)
		A supertaster is a person who has an unusually strong sense of taste.
		Reasearchers determine whether someone is a supertaster, nontaster, or normal by gauging their reaction to propylthiouracil, also known as PROP, a bitter substance used medicinally in the treatment of hyperthyroidism.
		On the positive side, however, supertasters generally don't enjoy alcohol or coffee, and thus are at considerably less risk of conditions like alcoholism and caffeine addiction.
	www.worldhistory.com /wiki/S/Supertaster.htm (375 words)

	Tastelab.org (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-11)
		We are not all born into the same "taste worlds." A group of chemically related compounds (including PTC, phenylthioocarbamide, and PROP, 6-n-propylthiouracil) are tasteless to some (nontasters), extremely bitter to others (supertasters) but only moderately bitter to a third group (medium tasters).
		Supertasters perceive not only the most intense tastes but also the most intense oral burn from irritants and the most intense tactile sensations from fats in foods.
		Modern genetic studies will allow us to determine directly whether or not individuals with two dominant alleles are the supertasters Genetic variation in taste affects food preferences and thus diet and health in two ways under current study.
	www.tastelab.org /index.php3?page=supertaster (200 words)

	New Haven Advocate: A Question of Taste (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-11)
		Normally, tasters, and especially supertasters, are highly sensitive to the burn of spicy foods.
		Supertasters tend to dislike the taste of many strong fruits and vegetables, which are the chief sources of cancer-preventing agents, a clear disadvantage.
		Yet female supertasters are more sensitive to fats, not through the sense of taste but through touch, and thus tend to be thinner, a clear advantage.
	old.newhavenadvocate.com /articles/tongue2.html (2829 words)

	Nature's Youth - Coral calcium, hgh, human growth hormone
		Her work revealed a subset of tasters, dubbed "supertasters," who were particularly sensitive to PROP's bitter flavor.
		In comparisons to nontasters, supertasters tasted more sweetness in table sugar, more bitterness in foods and beverages such as fl coffee, and more sourness in fruits.
		The good news is that sensitivity to PROP is associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, as supertasters tend to dislike fatty and sugary foods.
	www.naturesyouth.com /art13.php (1355 words)

	Supertasters Beware (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-11)
		Still, before you get too jealous if you're not a supertaster, it turns out there are drawbacks to having a technicolor tongue.
		A study that looks specifically at supertasters over the age of sixty-five found they have more colon polyps than folks who aren't so taste bud gifted.
		The reason for this may be as simple as it sounds: eating is more fun when you taste in 3-D. Some researchers think, though, that the problem may not just be an increase in pleasure.
	amos.indiana.edu /library/scripts/supertasters.html (251 words)

	eG Forums -> Science Experiments for eGullters
		Ever since the supertaster thing hit NPR and the news, my wife likes to blame her wussy tolerance to spicy foods on her being a supertaster.
		I would not be surprised to learn that supertasters were underrepresented as a group among gourmands compared to their presence in the general population.
		I have a sister that probably is a supertaster, can't stand anything slightly bitter, and her favorite dishes are things like noodles with only butter and salt.
	forums.egullet.org /index.php?showtopic=31228 (1157 words)

	Taste is not only relative, it's genetic
		"For supertasters who are used to tasting sugar as really strong, a medium concentration of Nutrasweet will be too weak, while for a non-taster, who is not used to tasting sugar very strong at all, Nutrasweet will be too sweet." But does any of this have any bearing on one's overall health profile.
		While supertasters have been found to be very sensitive to such foods as chocolate (too sweet), and grapefruit (too bitter) because of their heightened sense of taste, they have also been found to have a lower body mass index (or overall weight).
		With a magnifying glass, count the number of taste buds near the front of your tongue that are blue-coloured in an area the size of a hole punch.
	www.exn.ca /Templates/Story.asp?ID=1997021007 (992 words)

	Chowhound's General Topics Message Board: Re(3): The Supertaster Test (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-11)
		It does sound like supertasting is based on genetic and biological factors, and I personally think it has to be more complex than the # of papillae on one's tongue.
		Seems like supertasters would be less omnivorous, which would be a handicap as a chef, I'd think.
		Thought it was interesting how supertasting has been reportedly correlated w/ certain types of disease since supertasters may avoid eating foods rich in nutrients or antioxidants.
	www.chowhound.com /boards/general/messages/149784.html (526 words)

	Wine . Sign On San Diego . com - San Diego Wine Guide : Wineries , Tours , Retailers , Vacations, Resources
		"Supertaster" is a researcher's term for someone who has more than the average amount of 10,000 tastebuds.
		Supertasters tend to find many tastes more intense than other people do.
		Studies have shown that supertasters have as many as 100 times the number of tastebuds of poor tasters and the majority of supertasters are women.
	wine.signonsandiego.com /pages/qanda.php?QAID=12 (190 words)

	The Telegraph - Calcutta : KnowHOW (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-11)
		The supertasters can’t stand it, the “medium tasters” (50 per cent) can detect it but find it bearable, and the “non-tasters” (25 per cent) don’t notice it at all.
		The supertaster’s palate is a strong physiological relic of an evolutionary distaste for bitter foods — people learnt to associate bitter tastes with poisons, and thus developed an aversion to such tastes.
		She accepts that some supertasters may never be able to stomach liver or scrambled egg.
	www.telegraphindia.com /1051107/asp/knowhow/story_5434273.asp (1100 words)

	CleverDonkey.com: Sweet Vindication for Supertasters (but not too sweet)
		Supertasters (25% of the population) have a higher concentration of taste buds on their tongue, and experience tastes at three to five times the level of normal tasters.
		The scientists involved say that supertasters live in a neon taste world, while normal tasters (50% of the population) live in a pastel world.
		Supertasters, on the other hand, are particularly sensitive to bitter tastes, which are prevalent in things like coffee and vegetables.
	www.cleverdonkey.com /ViewArticle.asp?ID=5&Cat=EngineerBoy (1376 words)

	Linda Bartoshuk Q&A
		The supertasters would have perceived the greatest bitterness and thus would have been the most likely to avoid the plants.
		Supertasters might like these foods less, eat fewer of them, and suffer from diseases that those foods might have prevented.
		Supertasters perceive the most intense sensations from salt, acids, and sweeteners as well as from fats in foods.
	www.pbs.org /safarchive/3_ask/archive/qna/3294_peppers.html (2587 words)

	BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind - Science of supertasters
		Studies have shown that around 25% of people are said to be non-tasters, 25% supertasters and 50% medium tasters.
		Whether you're a non-taster or a supertaster or somewhere in-between depends on your sensitivity to a bitter chemical called 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP).
		The supertaster gene could be a remnant of our evolutionary past, acting as a safety mechanism to stop us eating unsafe foods and toxins.
	www.bbc.co.uk /science/humanbody/body/articles/senses/supertaster.shtml (361 words)

	Bloggle: Coffee & Commentary » Article » Supertasters: Both Sides (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-11)
		Supertasters – those lucky few who pack an extra parcel of taste buds on their tongues –; are apparently at an increased risk of a number of cancers.
		It would appear to be a diet thing… supertasters don’t like the taste of foods that are good for them.
		Unlike the dreck you’ll find in a can, specialty coffee is not too bitter… and the more adept palate of a supertaster can identify nuances that might escape many of the rest of us.
	www.bloggle.com /2003/02/supertasters-both-sides/trackback (291 words)

	Yale Medicine Spring 1999 - To taste or not to taste
		She took Fox’s notion one step further, coining the term “supertaster” after identifying a third group of subjects whose taste buds were so numerous and so densely packed that foods such as grapefruit, coffee and dark green vegetables were overwhelmingly bitter.
		Being a supertaster also predisposes you to oral pain, another area we’re investigating.” Bartoshuk and her colleagues developed a taffy containing capsaicin, the substance that gives jalapeño peppers their fire, and proved it effective in relieving oral pain in cancer patients.
		Long-standing research by taste scientists has established links between taste and sexual maturation (girls who are tasters mature six months earlier, on average, while boys are delayed six months), depression (tasters are more prone) and alcoholism (nontasters are more at risk).
	info.med.yale.edu /external/pubs/ym_sp99/cover/taste2.html (419 words)

	Yale Medicine Spring 1999 - Taste
		For example, a supertaster has many times the number of taste buds and is tasting two or three times the intensity of sweetness from ordinary sugar as a nontaster, like me. The supertaster can find broccoli too bitter and hot peppers too spicy.
		If you’re a supertaster you are born with a different anatomy.
		Finding all these male supertasters who are experts at food is extremely interesting, and this is not an accident.
	info.med.yale.edu /external/pubs/ym_sp99/cover/taste1.html (3499 words)

	Great Moments in Science, Ep 27, 1998
		A supertaster is a person whose genes make them more sensitive to the bitter chemicals found in some vegetables and fruits.
		One advantage of being a supertaster, if you are living in an unfamiliar environment, is that your natural taste buds will protect you from bitter foods, which may sometimes be poisonous.
		Once we recognise that supertasters do have a problem with certain foods, maybe we can help them prepare these foods in ways to make them more acceptable - such as cooking some vegetables, instead of eating them raw.
	www.abc.net.au /science/k2/moments/gmis9827.htm (689 words)

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