How an Explosion Revealed a Taste Talent
“It’s just a matter of taste,” you might say to a friend when debating your favorite foods. But what if it’s more than personal preference? Science reveals that some people experience tastes more intensely than others. People with a heightened ability to taste are called supertasters. These individuals live in a world of heightened flavors and sensations—a true superpower of the palate.
The wonderful and varied tastes of food are one of life’s great pleasures. Surprisingly, all the thousands of flavors we enjoy come from combinations of just five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (a savory flavor found in foods like cheese, tomatoes, and dried fish flakes). Each taste has its own receptors, and our brains combine signals from these receptors to create the symphony of flavors we experience. However, how we perceive these tastes varies significantly—and for some, it’s much more intense.
What Is it like to be a Supertaster?
Supertasters experience stronger taste sensations, especially for bitter and spicy foods. They’re often labeled as picky eaters because of their intense reactions to certain flavors. For example, a supertaster might find broccoli or Brussels sprouts unbearably bitter or describe cilantro as tasting like soap.
Even sweets, which many people love, can be overwhelming for supertasters. Ice cream may seem cloyingly sweet, while rich, fatty foods lose their appeal. Mildly spicy dishes, which most find pleasant, can feel painfully intense for supertasters, making dining out a sensory minefield.
New York Times columnist David Pogue, a self-described supertaster, captures this well:
“I can’t tell you the number of dinners I’ve had where everyone is like, ‘Oh, you’re such a hot pepper wuss.’”
Science Behind Supertasting
What gives supertasters their unique abilities? The secret lies in their tongues. Supertasters have more taste buds—sometimes up to twice as many as the average person. Taste buds sit on small bumps on the tongue called fungiform papillae, and each bud contains between 50 and 150 taste receptors.
Supertasting is a genetic trait, determined by a dominant gene. If you inherit the gene from both parents, you’re likely a supertaster. Roughly 25% of the population are supertasters, while 50% are average tasters, and the remaining 25% are less sensitive to taste.
Interestingly, women are more likely than men to be supertasters, and there may be geographic variations in the prevalence of supertasters. However, this heightened sensitivity comes at a cost—supertasters also have more pain receptors on their tongues, making some foods physically uncomfortable to eat.
An Accidental Discovery
The phenomenon of supertasting was discovered in 1931 by accident. During an explosion in the lab explosion of DuPont chemist Arthur Fox, a substance called phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) blasted throughout the building. Some DuPont workers complained about a bitter taste lingering in their mouths, while others noticed nothing at all. This unexpected event revealed a genetic variation in taste perception and laid the foundation for the study of supertasters.
Dr. Linda Bartoshuk, a psychologist at the University of Florida and a leading authority on taste perception, later coined the term “supertaster.” She notes that taste perception has deep evolutionary roots. For instance, the ability to detect bitter tastes helped early humans avoid toxic plants, giving supertasters a survival advantage.
How to Tell If You’re a Supertaster
Think you might be a supertaster? Here are two ways to find out:
- Count the Papillae on Your Tongue: Use blue food coloring to dye your tongue, then examine it under a magnifying glass. Supertasters will have a higher density of papillae.
- Try a Taste Test Strip: Special test strips containing PTC or similar compounds can reveal if you have the genetic trait.
Curious about how this works? I’ll try both methods as a fun science experiment and share the results in a future post. In my next post, I’ll give step-by-step instructions. So why not try it. You might discover your own taste superpower!
A World of Flavor
Taste is a fascinating and complex sense. It’s not just about taste buds; smell, brain activity, and even environmental factors play a role in how we experience food. While we still have much to learn, one thing is clear: supertasters remind us how uniquely we all experience the world, one bite at a time.
Interested in more STEM stories? See my book Teen Innovators: Nine Young People Engineering a Better World with Creative Inventions. Also, my new book, Design Thinking: A Guide to Innovation, will come soon.