Variation in a taste receptor gene influences taste sensitivity of children and adults, accounting for individual differences in taste preferences and food selection, report a team of researchers from the Monell Chemical Senses Center. In addition to genes, age and culture also contribute to taste preferences, at times overriding the influence of genetics. The findings may help to explain why some children are more attracted to sweet-tasting foods, as well as why taste and food preferences appear to change with age. “The sense of taste is an important determinant of what children eat. We know that young children eat what they like. We also know that many children do not like bitter taste, thereby interfering with vegetable consumption and potentially limiting intake of important nutrients,” comments lead author Julie Mennella, PhD, a developmental psychobiologist. “The recent Nobel Prize award demonstrates the importance of the identification of genes coding for taste and olfactory receptors. We took advantage of this new knowledge to look at how variation in taste genes might relate to the taste likes and dislikes of children and parents.” In the study, to be published in the February 2005 issue of Pediatrics, researchers compared taste sensitivity and food-related behaviors across three genotypes of the TAS2R38 gene, which encodes a taste receptor responsive to bitter taste.
