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Credit: Nick Romanenko
Beverly Tepper, professor of food
science, hands her associate, Natalia
Ullrich, a tasting tray. Tepper
conducted research showing that people
who are fussy eaters with discerning
palates tend to be thinner than those
who like a wide variety of foods and
flavors.
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Beverly Tepper, a professor of food science at Cook College, has discovered that people who are genetically more sensitive to bitter tastes tend to be thinner than people with less sensitive palates.
Tepper’s study included 50 women in their 40s. She found that so-called “supertasters” were 20 percent thinner than “nontasters.” Previous studies have shown that nontasters tend to like a wide variety of foods including sweet, fatty, bitter and spicy foods; whereas super-tasters were more fussy – they tended to have more food dislikes and to avoid strong-tasting foods.
“We believe that the differences in taste lead nontasters to eat more calories over time, which results in weight gain for nontasters,” Tepper says. Supertasters in Tepper’s study had an average body-mass index of 23.5, safely below the overweight threshold of 25. Nontasters had an index of 30, which is the threshold for obesity. Body-mass index is the ratio of height to weight and is used as a standardized measure of body weight.
Tepper has been researching the genetics of food preference since 1995. She began screening volunteers for their ability to taste the bitter compound called PROP (6-n-propylthiouracil) and then collected information on their food preferences and dietary behavior. There was a strong association between PROP taster status and acceptance of high-fat foods, such as salad dressing, whole milk and meats. She has now completed four studies with different groups, including children, which support her hypothesis.
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