The green-hating gene

 

 

 

 

It's the perfect excuse for any child - some of us are born with a dislike of vegetables.

Studies have shown that having a taste for bitter greens is in our genes.

Those who baulk at the very thought of broccoli are born with taste buds which are highly sensitive to sharp tastes, while those who love the vegetable find it hard to register the bitterness.

The U.S. scientists said an aversion to vegetables may be the body's way of keeping us healthy.

It is known that the chemicals behind the bitter taste stop iodine from working properly in the body. But iodine, found in seafood and some vegetables and processed by the thyroid gland, is crucial for growth and mental and sexual development.

People living in areas where iodine levels are low may have evolved a dislike of foods that prevented them from making use of what little iodine there was.

The researchers from the Mon-ell Chemical Sciences Centre in Philadelphia asked volunteers to rate a range of vegetables for bitterness.

Each participant was then tested for variations of the genes which govern sensitivity to the bitter taste. There are two versions of the gene, one sensitive and one insensitive.

Everyone has two of the genes, and those with a pair of the sensitive type found broccoli horribly bitter and cabbage and Brussels sprouts not much better.

Those with two insensitive ones enjoyed eating the veg while volunteers with one of each type of gene fell somewhere in between.

The same genes are responsible for developing our taste, or otherwise, for watercress, turnip and horseradish.

The experts believe, however, that it is possible for sensitive people to develop a taste for such vegetables as they grow older.

mums who prefer pies doesn't help :rolleyes:

ahaha to bad that's not true for me..

Don't scientists have more important things to be researching...