For fun...Are You A Supertaster? Count your taste buds!

16 years ago

Tongue test identifies 'super-tasters'

A simple tongue test can tell people if they are a "super-taster" or not.

Around 35% of women are super-tasters, compared with just 15% of men, US research has shown.

The study found some people are born with more taste buds than others, meaning they are better able to distinguish between tastes.

While those with too few taste buds may not be able to tell the difference between cheap plonk and fine wines, those with more taste buds are more likely to become professional chefs or wine tasters.

Now there is a taste bud test people can do at home, based on the Yale University research.

Pink dots

To test your taste buds, you need some blue food colouring, a piece of paper with a 7mm (or .28")-wide hole punched through it, and a magnifying glass.

Swab some of the food colouring onto the tip of your tongue. The tongue will take up the dye, but the papillae, tiny structures that house the taste buds, will stay pink.

Put the piece of paper on the front part of the tongue and, using the magnifying glass, count how many pink dots are inside the hole.

Fewer than 15 papillae mean you are an insensitive "non-taster", between 15 and 35 indicates an average "taster" and over 35 papillae then you are a "super-taster".

The US research, led by Professor Linda Bartoshuk, suggested around a quarter of the population are non-tasters, 50% tasters, and the rest super-tasters.

Laboratory tests used a solution of 6-propylthiouracil, a thyroid medication known as PROP.

Some people noticed nothing, others found the taste bitter, and others found it extremely unpleasant.

But PROP is a prescription-only drug, so the researchers suggest using food colouring for an at-home test.

Education

Professor Bartoshuk said: "Super-tasters perceive all tastes as more intense than do tasters and non-tasters."

Catherine Lowe, managing editor of Wine magazine which published details of the research, told BBC News Online: "People are recognised as being able to taste differently.

"Some people are very, very good and others are just average, so we wanted to look at the science behind it."

But she said it was still possible for would-be wine tasters to educate their palate.

"You can learn. But for some people, it is easier than for others."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2880471.stm

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Comments (9)

oldroser
16 years ago
Don't think this test is going to work very well for someone with bifocals. However, I can taste the bitterness in artificial sweeteners so assume that I have a pretty good array of taste buds.
ohio_grower
16 years ago
I took that test when I was in high school. The girl next to me and myself were the only two that spit out that nasty paper! LOL
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I had a somewhat similar rule with my dog when I was little. If he came looking at a snack I was eating (not a proper meal at the table--he had very good manners), if it wasn't on the not for dogs list, I'd offer him a piece. He was allowed to sniff as much as he wanted, but if he took it in his mouth, he had to eat it. He was very fond of string cheese. :) No abuse involved. If he dropped it--not spit it out, which once in awhile happened and I figured he really didn't like it and threw it out--just dropped it--I'd point at it. He'd eat it. That was the rule. You can have some of my food if you want to eat it but you can't use it to make a mess on the floor. Having a must taste it once rule is an ongoing and known thing between the child and adult. It can be discussed and evaluated as to whether it's working for the family. One makes allowances. The kid who doesn't like any soup doesn't have to try the new soup. The kid who is really revolted by the appearance beyond a perfunctory "Ew! What's that?" can be given a pass. A lot of times, however, kids (especially under 10) "don't like" foods because they don't like the name, they don't like the color of the dish it's in, the shape reminds them of something non-food they don't like, etc. They're busily trying to process it, and don't have a lot to compare it to. Sometimes, they also will like a dish made with ingredients they don't like, because they like the story that goes along with it. While variety of foods is a really excellent way to eat, there is so much new information bombarding kids daily, that they often enjoy food they know more because of the familiarity, and ease of processing what they're experiencing, and the desire to repeat and reinforce pleasant experiences. Adults are often the opposite--something may seem more delicious than it really is if it's a totally new flavor or combination. That's because almost everything has some kind of familiarity and tasting something new lights up the neurons.
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Wonderful story, Linda! Thanks for sharing it. :) I've been reading a ton of articles for weeks, and didn't make a bibliography, so you're on your own for interpretation. You can get the test strips from Amazon. I first got PTC test strips made by Precision Laboratories. The set of four I got looks identical to the PL set, but is branded Bartovation. Both brands sell all kinds of test strips for testing this and that, some for school experiments, and others for health and safety, and similar commercial/industrial uses. Both brands sell the taste strips for doing simple genetic variance tests in the classroom, with good info on how to do the lesson, but little explanation of what it means about perception. For that I had to read all those other articles (which is where I found out about PTC in the first place). There's a lot more to taste and perception that I've learned about, and I've only scratched the surface. PTC sensitivity, I think, has the most implications on actual perception. The other two are mostly interesting in that they show other genetic variations. Other than affecting the flavor when used as a preservative, I haven't found that the ability to taste sodium benzoate has any particular meaning. Some genetic variations are free riders. There's a survival trait that gets passed along but something else also happens. This could be one of them. Or maybe I just haven't found the right info on it.
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anney
Original Author
16 years ago
ohio grower

I think a piece of plastic with the hole punched in it would work better than paper anyway. Isn't that a funny test? I smile to think about it, but I may do it this winter just to see. I suspect I'm somewhere in the middle like lots of folks. But I'm curious because I react very strongly to sour and spicy tastes, not always negatively, but they sure can make me sit up and take notice!

On the Tomato forum, lots of people ask which varieties have the best old-timey taste, and people give various answers and often disagree with each other, finally concluding that everybody seems to prefer something different and it's impossible to know what they're looking for. Children's taste buds seem to be much more "on the alert" than adults', and I suspect many people remember the taste of tomatoes in their youth that's been lost because our taste sensitivities grow less as we grow older. But maybe not if one is a supertaster! I think it would be great!

There are interesting jobs for supertasters, that's for sure.
anney
Original Author
16 years ago
LOL! You'd need a good magnifying glass. I can imagine it now, trying to count those blurry little taste buds in the mirror, squinting and peering and losing count and having to start all over again! It isn't the sort of thing one would want to be caught doing, lest people think you're daft.
zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
16 years ago
So Anney, do you watch "Millionaire" too? They just had a question about this topic.

Tried it... darn... I'm just average. Age & too many scalding cups of coffee have probably taken their toll as well. Any super-tasters out there want to help me taste-test different varieties of garlic? Raw?

But seriously, I agree with Anney that it isn't all or nothing... different people are sensitive to different tastes. Plus, our preferences are influenced by pleasant (or unpleasant) associations with particular foods. So we're all different... ain't it great??
ohio_grower
16 years ago
Anney, the paper I was refering to was something that supposedly only super tasters could taste according to the teacher. Only two people out of thirty thought that the paper had any taste at all. Myself and the girl next to me both spit it out, it tasted awful to us.
granite
16 years ago
In addition to the NUMBER of taste buds, you can inherit different TYPES of tastebuds too. Its why artificial flavors seem fine to some folks and are horrid to others. Way back when I was in college, the grad student running my zoology lab course did the taste bud test on the class as part of his research. He had three different papers for us to "taste" and record what we found. For people with "normal" taste buds, the tastes were supposed to be salty, sweet, and fruity.......for me they were hairspray, bitter and jaw-locking obnoxious. I was the only one out of a class of 30-50 that thought all three papers were noxious. He did a few more tests with me, and was really happy to hear about what foods I avoided, etc. He said that his research was to show that you inherit types and # of tastebuds, just like inheriting eye color, etc. I got extra credit in the lab for going home and doing the genetics questionnaires with my family. (blood types, hair color, eye color, hand dominance, earlobe shape, presence/absence of hair on knuckles, etc).
anney
Original Author
16 years ago
granite

Does the "supertaste" ability also include an increased sensitivity to smell? IOW, can you vividly smell a fragrance of some sort (separately, apart from tasting) as well as experience the taste as intense? I know the two are closely-related but don't know to what extent they overlap.

Just curious.
granite
16 years ago
Could be, that makes sense.
However, I have so many allergies and sinus problems that most of the time I can't smell much of anything. So, sorry, I can't answer that one personally

For fun...Are You A Supertaster? Count your taste buds!

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