Could you be a supertaster? Only 25% of people in the world are!
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Do you find that certain foods taste extra bitter to you, more so than your family and friends? Well, there's a reason for that! You could be a supertaster.
What is a supertaster?
Your body has specific receptors for different tastes (think sweet, savoury, umami etc.). ‘Supertasters probably have more receptors, and/or they have receptors that are more sensitive to these bitter substances,’ biologist Anne Biklé says. So a supertaster is particularly in tune with the bitter taste due to genetics.
Are you a supertaster? Image source: Pexels.
About a quarter of the population consists of supertasters and another quarter are described as ‘non-tasters’, which essentially means their taste is weaker than the average person. As for the rest of us, we fall somewhere between these two extremes.
According to biologist Anne Biklé, a bitter taste is naturally more reactive and ‘when it comes to the bitter substances we have around 23 or 24 different kinds of receptors’. Other tastes have significantly fewer; sweet flavours only have 2 or 3, for example. That's why many people might not favour bitter tastes in general but supertasters might only be able to handle a forkful!
How do you tell if you're a supertaster?
To tell if you're a supertaster, first think about how you feel about bitterness in food. Some common examples of bitter foods include kale, citrus peel, cacao, broccoli, red wine, and coffee beans
If you consume these foods frequently without any complaint, then chances are that you’re not bothered by bitterness, and therefore are not a supertaster. However, if you can’t stand these foods, or struggle to eat them in abundance, without the help of sugar or say a salad dressing, then you could be a supertaster.
Being labelled a ‘supertaster’ doesn't make you better or worse off health wise but it does help explain some flavour preferences. So next time someone accuses you of being picky over food choices because 'they don't understand how anyone couldn't love something', it might just be because your taste buds work harder than most!
Want to figure out whether you’re a supertaster? The ABC has a great video below that we highly recommend watching.
So what are you? A supertaster? A ‘non-taster’? Or someone in the middle? Let us know in the comments below!
What is a supertaster?
Your body has specific receptors for different tastes (think sweet, savoury, umami etc.). ‘Supertasters probably have more receptors, and/or they have receptors that are more sensitive to these bitter substances,’ biologist Anne Biklé says. So a supertaster is particularly in tune with the bitter taste due to genetics.
Are you a supertaster? Image source: Pexels.
About a quarter of the population consists of supertasters and another quarter are described as ‘non-tasters’, which essentially means their taste is weaker than the average person. As for the rest of us, we fall somewhere between these two extremes.
According to biologist Anne Biklé, a bitter taste is naturally more reactive and ‘when it comes to the bitter substances we have around 23 or 24 different kinds of receptors’. Other tastes have significantly fewer; sweet flavours only have 2 or 3, for example. That's why many people might not favour bitter tastes in general but supertasters might only be able to handle a forkful!
How do you tell if you're a supertaster?
To tell if you're a supertaster, first think about how you feel about bitterness in food. Some common examples of bitter foods include kale, citrus peel, cacao, broccoli, red wine, and coffee beans
If you consume these foods frequently without any complaint, then chances are that you’re not bothered by bitterness, and therefore are not a supertaster. However, if you can’t stand these foods, or struggle to eat them in abundance, without the help of sugar or say a salad dressing, then you could be a supertaster.
Being labelled a ‘supertaster’ doesn't make you better or worse off health wise but it does help explain some flavour preferences. So next time someone accuses you of being picky over food choices because 'they don't understand how anyone couldn't love something', it might just be because your taste buds work harder than most!
Want to figure out whether you’re a supertaster? The ABC has a great video below that we highly recommend watching.
So what are you? A supertaster? A ‘non-taster’? Or someone in the middle? Let us know in the comments below!
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