Here is a question that has started more arguments at dinner tables than almost anything else: does broccoli bad? If you hate it, you have been told to just eat it. If you love it, you cannot understand what the fuss is about. Turns out, you might be tasting completely different things.
Scientists have found that about twenty-five per cent of people are "supertasters." These people have more bumps on their called taste buds, sometimes twice as many as everyone else. Because they have so many, they are extremely to flavours. A piece of broccoli that tastes mild to your friend can taste awful to you.
Why the difference? It comes down to your . A single gene whether you can a called PTC. If you carry the right version of this gene, PTC tastes very bitter. Broccoli, cabbage, and dark chocolate all chemicals similar to PTC, so people with this gene often find these foods hard to swallow.
Research suggests that this ability served an important purpose long ago. Many poisonous plants in nature taste bitter. People who could bitterness more strongly were better at avoiding dangerous food. Over thousands of years, the gene was passed down because it helped people survive.
So the next time someone tells you to stop being picky, you have science on your side. You do not vegetables because you are difficult. Your mouth is simply receiving a stronger signal. Some kids about vegetables at every meal, and the around them think they are making excuses. But biology does not care about table manners.
Here is the good news. As you grow older, some of your taste buds stop working, and flavours become less intense. Many adults start to foods they refused as children. You will not wake up one day suddenly loving broccoli. But you might try it again and think, "That is not bad." Or you might to skip it forever. Either way, now you know why.
