How to.......

Now that I have planted the seed of curiosity, it is just fair that I tell you how to found out whether you are a supertaster! Several tests can be used to determine your classification and the most readily available method is using food coloring, here are the steps:

1. Obtain a magnifying glass, flashlight, cotton swab, and blue food coloring.

2. Look inside your mouth. You will see several bumps of varying size. Most of these are filiform papillae, which play no role in taste perception.

3. To view the fungiform papillae, which contain taste pores that serve as conduits for chemicals from our food to reach the taste buds, moisten a cotton swab with blue food coloring and then paint your tongue from the tip to about ¾-inch back (in the direction of the throat).

4. Stick out your tongue and using a flashlight and magnifying glass, inspect it. You should see pink circles against a blue background. These are the fungiform papillae.

5. Supertaster have more than 35 papillae per 7mm diameter circle.  

“Supertasting” can also be tested for by assessing your ability to taste 6-n-propylthiouracil (PTC). PTC-impregnated paper is not readily available for the general public but the test consists of putting the paper in your mouth and chewing it. Individuals who are supertaster will sense a very unpleasant bitter taste. 

And it doesn't end with Supertasting....

And, just like with everything in life, there is an opposite of “supertasting”. Hypogeusia refers to a diminished taste acuity. It is characterized by a decrease in the ability to recognize salt, sweet, bitter, and sour compounds. However, in contrast with “supertasting”, hypogeusia is not a genetic disorder but is associated to injuries and illnesses.

This disorder can be caused by conditions such as respiratory and middle ear infections, radiation therapy, surgery of the ear, nose, and throat, amongst others. Although this condition is not attributable to a single cause, it has been demonstrated that people with low levels of plasma zinc concentration are more prone to the condition and that using a zinc supplement significantly improves the threshold of taste detection for salt, sweet, and bitter but not for sour compounds.  

Other disorders of the chemical senses include ageusia, the inability to detect any taste and disgeusia,  a condition in which a foul, salty, rancid, or metallic taste persists in the mouth. It is alarming though that this conditions can be a sign of a more threatening disease. It is thus important that if we, at any moment, are affected by any distortion in taste perfection, we visit an otolaryngologist

Vegetables? Coffee? Ugh!!

As it turns out, supertaster have an inherited dislike for vegetables, coffee, grape juice, Brussels sprouts and cabbage, among other foods known to contain bitter-tasting compounds. They also dislike alcoholic beverages and foods high in sugar and fat.  From personal opinion I think there must be a way to overcome this inherited biases because although I have a strong dislike for grape juice, spicy foods, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and some other vegetables, with time I've been able to enjoy certain wines, coffee with little milk and I love broccoli! 

 Beyond the likes and dislikes for different foods, there are more advantages and disadvantages to this condition. It is known that supertaster drink less alcohol that people with less sensitive palates, which is a good thing. They are also less vulnerable to cardiac problems and developing obesity. However, supertasters are at a greater risk of developing certain types of cancers because some of the bitter compounds found in vegetables are thought to have protective effect against certain cancers, particularly colon cancer. It is thus important that we are aware of our condition and habits, and become “mindful eaters”.

Digging Deeper

“I am not a picky eater!” has been the last sentence of one too many arguments with my friends. I now have scientific data to back me up! 25% of the world population is considered to be supertasters. Women are more likely to be supertasters than men; also, people of Asian, African, and South American decent have a higher probability of being supertasters than Caucasians, which have the lowest proportion of all populations. Guess what?! I am a woman of African descent!

“Supertasting” has been attributed to a genetic variation in the genes encoding the taste receptors for bitter tastants, TAS2R38 and TAS1R2. However, due to the wide array of bitter taste receptors, not enough conclusive data has been collected to confirm this hypothesis. Along those same lines, “supertasting” has also been proposed as an evolutionary advantage. Supertasters learn not to eat bitter, usually poisonous, foods after the first taste rather than after getting sick. This ability may signify the difference between dying/surviving. However, it can also be argued that too much sensitivity could be detrimental as it restricts what a person could possibly eat. From this point of view, one may be inclined to say that medium-tasters are better suited for survival since they are sensible enough to avoid poisonous foods but also have a wider range of bitter tastes, which allows them to have a more varied diet.

The questions remain: can you grow out of being a supertasters? Can you get used to certain bitter foods? I shall find out and let you know!

The Beginning of the Story

Before I introduce my topic, I shall first tell you a little bit about me.  Striving to find my place in science, I enrolled at a university far away from home. So many years later, here I am, a graduate student at a western university researching taste. In the meanwhile, I thought it would be fun to share the story of how I found out that I am a “supertaster” long before it even occurred to me how in-depth I would grow to understand what it means to be a “supertaster”.

I discovered that I am a “supertaster” during a laboratory exercise in one of my undergraduate classes, and it was not until too long ago that I decided to investigate why I am more sensible than other people to a particular tastant. Based on their ability to taste the chemical 6-n-propylthiouracil (PTC), people can be classified as non-tasters, medium tasters, and supertasters. Non-tasters find PTC tasteless, medium tasters describe taste qualities other than bitter, and supertasters find the taste of PTC excruciatingly bitter and revolting.  This difference in taste is dependent upon the distribution of taste buds, onion-like structures formed by collections of taste receptor cells, on the tongue.  Taste buds are found in distinguished zones of the tongue known as “papillae”, and there are four types: fungiform, circumvallate, foliate, and filiform papillae. People who are supertasters have high numbers of fungiform papillae compared to medium and non-tasters. Interestingly enough, there is more to the story……