The BITTER Truth - super taste buds may be the reason why some people don't like vegetables

Vibrant Life, May, 2001 by Linda Formichelli

Find out if you're a supertaster--someone whose taste buds say Yuck to vegetables. If that's you, here are ways to get your RDA.

For as long as I can remember, the point has been driven home to me: "Eat your vegetables. They're good for you." Just how good is becoming more and more apparent, what with all the studies and news reports showing how they protect us against everything from cancer to heart attacks. I know that vegetables are our friends. So why do I find them so vile?

There, I've said it, for "bitter" or worse. But I'm not alone in my feelings. Vegetable haters are everywhere ... our numbers are legion. No matter how much we hear about veggies' disease-fighting power, we just can't overcome our dislike enough to take advantage of all the nutritional benefits they deliver.

People who don't like vegetables are often dismissed as picky eaters. And if you are one, you know what I mean. "Not liking vegetables has really been a burden," says Kate de Fuccio, a graduate student at the University of Michigan. "People will literally tease me. It becomes a control issue--they think they can `fix' me and try to force vegetables on me."

But there may be more to a dislike of veggies than being picky. Recent research has uncovered a group of people called supertasters who are genetically sensitive to bitterness. Like color-seeing people in a color-blind world, veggie haters may actually taste flavors that veggie lovers don't.

Until the late 1970s, taste researchers grouped people as "tasters" or "nontasters," depending on their ability to taste a chemical called phenylthiocarbamide. Then Linda Bartoshuk, Ph.D., a taste researcher at the Yale University School of Medicine, began to test people for sensitivity to a similar chemical, called 6-n-propylthiouracil. Her research revealed a subset of tasters who were particularly sensitive to the bitter flavor. She dubbed such people "supertasters." About 25 percent of the population are supertasters, 25 percent are nontasters, and the rest regular tasters. Almost two thirds of supertasters are women, and Asians and African-Americans tend to be more sensitive than Caucasians.

As luck would have it, the compounds that give vegetables their health benefits also happen to be--you guessed it--bitter. Does this mean that supertasters' acute sensitivity cause them to shun veggies? To find out, Adam Drewnowski, Ph.D., director of the nutrition program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, tested subjects using the bitter grapefruit. He found that supertasters tend more than tasters and nontasters not to like grapefruit because of the bitter cancer-preventive agent naringin. "The results showed the supertaster status does alter preferences," says Drewnowski.

Veggies may be bitter, but their benefits are sweet. According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetables contain compounds that help prevent and reduce cancer and heart disease, and fiber that speeds toxins through the digestive tract before they can do harm. The compounds that make veggies cancer-fighting powerhouses are called phytochemicals.

"We think there are thousands of phytochemicals, but only a fraction of them have been discovered," says Melanie Polk, R.D., director of nutrition education at the American Institute for Cancer Research. Vegetables contain so many still-undiscovered phytochemicals that no food supplement or vitamin can take the place of a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet.

But don't let the bitter taste of veggies keep you from your five a day. We talked with nutritionists and taste researchers to find out what you can do to take the bitter edge off your veggies.

Sometimes Fat Is Good

Especially if it helps you eat more veggies. According to Paul Breslin, Ph.D., an assistant member at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, some bitter compounds are lipophilic, meaning they readily dissolve in fat. So it's possible that putting a little fat in the form of a sauce or salad dressing on vegetables will suppress the bitter taste.

Sprinkle Them With Sugar

Last year the British Cancer Research Campaign, in conjunction with a major frozen-food chain, launched a new line of flavored foods--including chocolate-covered vegetables--in hopes of getting kids to eat their greens. Granted, chocolate-dipped greens may be going a bit too far, but the idea behind it is valid. If you find veggies too bitter, try going the "Mary Poppins route" and look for recipes that call for a spoonful of sugar.

Shake On Some Salt

Ever notice that your favorite dessert recipe contains salt, or that salted cantaloupe tastes sweeter? Breslin says that salt blocks bitter flavors and acts as a filter that lets more desirable flavors shine through. Lightly dusting your veggies with salt may make them more palatable.

Heat Them Up

If the bitterness of raw vegetables makes you skimp on greens, try microwaving, steaming, or stir-frying them instead. The process of heating them up helps dull the bite. "Chinese people tend to be sensitive to bitterness, but they eat a lot of vegetables," says Drewnowski. "How? They stir-fry them."