If you're halfway through a holiday meal and someone asks why you haven't helped yourself to the Brussels sprouts, you can either politely add a few of them to your plate, or you can say, "Sorry, I'm a supertaster, I'd better not." Because as it turns out, if you're not a fan of those undersized cabbages, there could be a genetic reason for it.
According to genomics and biotech company 23andMe, some people have a genetic variant that causes them to have more taste receptors on their tongue and to be more sensitive to a chemical called phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). Because PTC is prevalent in Brussels sprouts, these so-called "Supertasters" perceive them as intensely bitter.
This is all connected to a taste-related gene called TAS2R38, which has a variant called AVI and one called PAV. We all inherit two copies of the gene — one from each of our parents — and those of us who have two AVI variants aren't as sensitive to those bitter tastes. But the ones who receive two PAV versions are the "supertasters," who are incredibly sensitive to bitter flavors. (People with one AVI and one PAV "perceive bitter tastes" but aren't completely overwhelmed by them.)
"People with certain genetic variants in the TAS2R38 gene can detect bitter taste more than others and therefore may be more likely to dislike sprouts,” 23andMe senior product scientist Alisa Lehman recently told the Daily Record. "There are many factors outside genetics that play a part in the foods we like. For example, we can train ourselves to like foods that are good for us, and as we get older, our food preferences can change as our overall sense of taste tends to dull. So even if you don’t like sprouts now, there’s the potential you will in the future."
In 2019, researchers from the University of Kentucky School of Medicine, surveyed 175 people about their food preferences, asking them how frequently they did (or did not) eat certain foods. The respondents with the supertaster gene were two-and-a-half times more likely to be among the least likely to eat vegetables, including Brussels sprouts.
"Your genetics affect the way you taste, and taste is an important factor in food choice," lead study author Jennifer L. Smith, Ph.D., R.N., said at the time. “We're talking a ruin-your-day level of bitter when they tasted the test compound. These people are likely to find broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage unpleasantly bitter; and they may also react negatively to dark chocolate, coffee, and sometimes beer."
But if you’ve passed on the Brussels sprouts, there’s also a chance that, you know … you just don’t like them, and it has nothing to do with your DNA. In 2015, Carolyn Ross, a Professor of Food Science and Director of the Washington State University Sensory Science Center School of Food Science, explained that you may have to try eating something eight times before —no pun intended —you get a taste for it.
If that’s the case, then tell your dinner companions that you’ll be ready for those Brussels sprouts in December 2031.
