Taste is a chemical sense perceived by specialized receptor cells on the tongue; it occurs when the receptor cells transmit information to the brain. Similarly, smell is a chemical sense detected by specialized receptors in the nose; it occurs when those receptors transmit information to the brain. It is the combination of taste and smell that determines flavor. But not all flavors affect people in the same manner. During the session “Bitter-Sweet: How Our Senses Impact Chronic Disease and Weight” at the 2015 Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (October 3–6, 2015), given by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, speakers discussed why and how people’s perception of taste and flavor varies and how such variation affects food choices and weight management.
Danielle Reed of Monell Chemical Senses Center explained that there are five tastes (sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness, and umami), but different genotypes determine how individuals taste foods and perceive flavor. Plants create bitter-tasting compounds to protect themselves from insects, pathogens, and other antagonists, so they release a bitter taste when they are chewed. The genotypes of humans’ taste receptors means that some people don’t mind the bitter taste of vegetables while others find vegetables extremely distasteful. In particular, cruciferous vegetables are quite bitter to some people, so they may avoid consuming cruciferous vegetables as well as other vegetables, making for a lower quality diet and perhaps poor weight management.
John Hayes of Pennsylvania State University said that although consumers tend to avoid eating foods they don’t like, learning can override innate aversions. Many people eat vegetables because they know that they are good for them, not because they think vegetables taste good. Moreover, if people can learn to like coffee or beer, they can learn to like vegetables. Hayes also pointed out that not all vegetables are bitter: Yellow, red, and orange vegetables are either less bitter or not bitter at all, Hayes said, and bitterness can be masked by both salt and sugar. He therefore advises people with aversions to the taste of vegetables to eat less bitter ones and think of the nutrition they’re providing. Of course, that advice won’t work for everyone.
