It Is All TAS2R38 Gene’s Fault!

Are you a finicky eater… did your mother always tell you to finish your broccoli, only for you to turn up your nose at it? What about Brussels sprouts? Did you turn up your nose at them too? Can you brush your teeth before drinking orange juice? Do you also turn up your nose at artificial sweeteners? Well, there is a scientific reason for that!

It is all the TAS2R38 gene’s fault!

What about the OR6A2 gene? Doesn't have some part in all of this? Yes. Some people who have certain versions of the OR6A2 receptor are much more sensitive to aldehydes, which are compounds found in cilantro… and also in soaps and detergents!

Via Pub Med, the NIH website:

Supertasting, earaches and head injury: genetics and pathology alter our taste worlds

Neurosci Biobehav Rev

L M Bartoshuk , V B Duffy, D Reed, A Williams

Abstract

Family studies using thresholds showed that PROP (6-n-propylthiouracil) tasting is produced by a dominant allele, T. Nontasters have two recessive alleles and tasters have one or two dominant alleles. The bitterness of suprathreshold PROP and anatomical criteria subdivide tasters into medium and supertasters. Supertasters may be TT tasters, but this has yet to be demonstrated. Supertasters preceive the greatest bitterness and sweetness from many stimuli as well as the greatest oral burn from alcohol and capsaicin. Women are more likely than men to be supertasters. Otitis media and head trauma can alter taste and thus PROP classifications, complicating studies on PROP genetics. Some subjects with a history of otitis media show taste reductions, but others show enhanced tastes and appear to have more taste buds per fungiform papilla. Subjects with head trauma show reduced tastes on some oral loci, but there is evidence that severe reductions on the front of the tongue ameliorate reductions at the circumvallate papillae on the back of the tongue by a release of inhibition mechanism.

Do you know what “supertasters” were used for? During the Middle Ages, we were the king’s food tasters. What a job! You get to eat all the king’s best food… if you can stay alive!

This just goes to show that we are all different. As a lobster lover, I cannot get enough of the bug! But others turn their noses up at it, while I hate avocado. We all have different tastes!

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I have to ask: why is it so hard to think that our sexuality and gender identity do not vary from person to person? Why is so hard for people to understand that we are all genetically we are all different?