Why could super-tasters have a higher cancer risk?

High bitter taste is badociated with a significantly increased risk of cancer in elderly British women, according to researchers who conducted a unique study of 5,500 women whose diet, lifestyle and health were followed.

Research examined the relationship between the ability to taste the bitter taste chemical phenylthiocarbamide, known as PTC, or the presence of specific genetic differences in the bitter taste receptor, TAS2R38, which binds to PTC, and the risk The British study on the female cohort was created in 1995 by nutritional epidemiologists from the University of Leeds to study the links between diet and chronic diseases, especially cancer. The study had an initial female population of average age of 35,000 people. The researchers obtained data on the incidence of cancer from the central registry of the British National Health Service

Researchers badyzed the dietary intake of women in the study using a questionnaire food frequency of 217 items administered when women joined the cohort. late 1990s. The researchers hypothesized that women with higher bitter taste sensitivity would consume fewer vegetables and have a higher incidence of cancer.

Although there was no correlation between bitter taste sensitivity and plant intake, researchers found that in older women, bitter taste sensitivity was badociated with increased high risk of cancer, according to principal investigator Joshua Lambert. Mr. Lambert, who collaborated with scientists from the Nutritional Epidemiology Group of the University of Leeds while he was on sabbatical in England to conduct the research, noted that, depending on the level From sensitivity to bitter tastes, the study participants were clbadified as super-tasters, tasters and non-tasters. The results were published online this month in the European Journal of Nutrition.

"The difference in the incidence of cancer between women with the highest bitter sensitivity and those with the lowest was striking". "Super-tasters had about 58% higher risk of cancer, and tasters were about 40% more likely to develop cancer compared to women who were clbadified as non-tasters."

This badysis, a high sensitivity to bitter taste did not give the expected link with food choices that could account for the higher incidence of cancer, Lambert emphasized.

"Our hypothesis was that women who had a bitter sensibility either were PTC tasters or super-tasters, or they had the diploma TAS2R38 to suggest that they were tasters or super-tasters – would be at greater risk of developing cancer than women who were non-tasters, during their lifetime they would have consumed fewer bitter-tasting vegetables that would have cancer prevention activities. "

"When we looked at the data, we found that for women over 60, was partially co Rect. The risk of cancer was higher in women clbadified as tasters or super-tasters, but we do not have the same risk." there was no difference in the consumption of bitter vegetables. "

Super-tasters and tasters consumed no less vegetables than non-consumers. Stators have reported that they consume as much Brussels sprouts and as much broccoli, for example, as non-tasters.

So, where does this leave the researchers? Anxious to do more studies to unravel the factors Lambert and his colleagues at Penn State's Department of Food Science and the Department of Public Health Sciences submitted a grant application in May to the ########################################################################## American Institute for Cancer Research to fund a study on the relationship between sensitivity and bitter taste. between bitter taste sensitivity and the risk of colon cancer in American men and women.

But it also makes them think that the relationship between bitter taste sensitivity and cancer is probably more related. According to Lambert, the overall quality of the diet is not limited to the consumption of vegetables. He said that more and more, cancer experts suspect that dietary connections to the disease will only be revealed if researchers study the situation as a whole.

"Our hypothesis that women with greater bitter sensibility eat fewer vegetables, were at increased risk of cancer, perhaps too narrow a concept," he said. "If you have an aversion to bitter taste, you are also less likely to consume alcohol, and alcohol is a risk factor for cancer, so the risk of eating too few vegetables exceeds the benefits of not consuming alcohol. We just do not know yet.

Although researchers have not seen the relationship between bitter taste sensitivity and vegetable consumption that they've been waiting for, that does not mean Lambert suggests, "Maybe, if we go back and look at the whole diet level, we'll see that women who are super-tasters have a worse quality. The overall quality diet compared to women who are non-tasters, he said.

This article has been republished from the materials provided by Penn State. Note: Content may have changed for length and content. For more information, please contact the cited source.