Kids definitely don’t like bitter foods, and unfortunately, many adults don’t either. This can prevent us from exploring and consuming many foods that are perceived as bitter but have a multitude of health benefits due to plant chemicals like flavonoids, phenols, and glucosinolates. But is this preference for sweetness over bitterness genetic or learned behaviour?
Taste and its Functions
It turns out that taste preferences do have a genetic component. Taste is our nutrient-sensing system, which plays a role in satiety and food intake. The food industry often disrupts this mechanism for its profit gains, but that’s a topic we’ll leave for another time. Our taste system has three main purposes: to determine if food is nutritious, to determine if food is safe to eat and to prepare the digestive system to process consumed food.
Dual Nature of Bitterness: Poison or Beneficial Plant Compound?
Bitterness is an inherent property of many toxic chemicals, which protect us from self-poisoning. However, not all poisons are bitter, and many bitter components in plants have beneficial effects. Plants actually produce these bitter chemicals to defend themselves against predators and disease-causing pathogens. These chemicals are part of a plant’s immune system, and humans have learned to use specific plants for their therapeutic uses. This is how herbal medicine was developed, and why most herbal tinctures are relatively bitter.
Taste & Digestion
Did you know that there are five essential tastes we can identify: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami? The sensation of taste is enabled by our taste buds, specialized cells located in our mouth. However, we also have taste receptors in tissues like the bile ducts, stomach, and intestine. These receptors respond to bitter taste, stimulating saliva and other digestive secretions along our digestive tract. This is why I often encourage bitter foods for better digestion.
Taste Gene Variations and Bitter Perception
We know that taste preferences and perceptions affect our eating behaviours and habits. How someone perceives a specific taste varies between people due to variations in taste genes. Researchers have found that sensitivity to bitter tastes has a genetic basis, affected by the TAS2R3 gene. This gene affects our ability to taste certain bitter compounds. The presence of this gene classifies people into “Tasters” or “Non-tasters.” There is even a taste test that can differentiate tasters from non-tasters.
Tasters perceive specific bitter compounds (PTC or PROP) as bitter, while non-tasters perceive these compounds as tasteless. Studies have shown that tasters who perceive bitterness more generally have a lower intake of bitter fruits and vegetables, as well as a higher preference for sweet-tasting beverages and foods. “Tasters” basically have a higher sensitivity to bitter-tasting compounds, which are found in many different foods, including dark chocolate, black coffee, green tea, grapefruit, cruciferous vegetables (i.e., broccoli, turnip, horseradish), etc.
Can we Learn to Like Bitter Foods?
Don’t despair. These genetically based taste preferences can be modified with time, exposure, and associative conditioning. Children and adults can also learn to like bitter vegetables by combining and eating them with a familiar dip or sauce, for example. Think broccoli with creamy Parmesan sauce or strawberries dipped in 85% dark chocolate. Healthy fats (i.e., avocado, nuts, and olive oil) or spices (i.e., mustard) can be used to mask the bitter taste of vegetables, which can then help enhance bitter vegetable intake. Another method is to steam, boil, or broil these veggies before serving, as cooking decreases bitterness.
So, there are no excuses. Next week’s challenge is to try including at least 3 new bitter food in your meals. Think rocket leaves, dandelion tea or greens, cacao powder, grapefruit, tahini paste, radicchio, kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chamomile tea, endive, and Brussels sprouts. If you would like to participate in the challenge, join us on our Facebook or Instagram page.
If you would like to learn more about improving digestion and how specific natural therapies can help address your health issues, book an appointment or a free 15-minute Discovery call below.
References:
Bray, Stefania C.; Carek, Peter J.. How bitter taste influences nutrition and health in primary care. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care 9(7):p 3205-3208, July 2020. | DOI: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_305_20
