But first, coffee, unless genetically disposed to prefer tea | Smart News

"It's the season of hot and pleasant drinks. According to a new study, it is possible that your genes determine whether you want a steaming cup of tea or a hot cup of coffee.

More specifically, as Alice Klein explains in New scientistour drinking preferences seem to be influenced by our sensitivity to certain bitter substances: caffeine, quinine (a compound found in tonic water) and propylthiouracil, or PROP (a synthetic flavor linked to the compounds present in cruciferous vegetables, such as kale). Interestingly, an increased ability to taste these bitter substances has not always caused them an aversion. People who have a greater genetic predisposition to taste the bitterness of caffeine, for example, seem to be bigger drinkers of coffee.

The new research, published in Scientific reports, based on two databases: an Australian study of 1757 twins and their siblings, which isolated genes from taste receptors that influence our perception of bitter tastes, and data from 438,870 participants of the British Biobank , a research initiative that has collected more than 500,000 people in England, Scotland and Wales. Survey participants were also asked about the amount of coffee, tea and alcohol consumed.

When they analyzed the data, the researchers found that people with gene variants that make them taste caffeine are 20% more likely to become "high-consumption" coffee drinkers, which means, according to the study, drink more than four cups a day. people with a moderate sensitivity to caffeine. And this is somewhat surprising, as our ability to taste bitterness has evolved as a defense mechanism warning us to spit out potentially toxic substances.

"You would expect people who are particularly sensitive to the bitter taste of caffeine to drink less coffee," says Marilyn Cornelis, senior author and assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University. But at work, too, we learned to associate the bitterness of coffee with "good things," like stimulation, explains Cornelis.

The researchers also found that people with genetic variants increasing their sensitivity to quinine were four percent more likely to drink more than five cups of tea a day. Those who are sensitive to PROP taste were nine percent more likely to consume a lot of tea.

These groups also drank less coffee than the caffeine-sensitive group, while coffee makers drank small amounts of tea. The forces at play here are not entirely clear; It is possible, for example, that heavy drinkers of coffee do not consume a lot of tea because they are too busy looking for their caffeine dose. But co-author of the study, Daniel Hwang, tells Klein that the quinine and PROP sensitive group might be more sensitive to bitter tastes, thus encouraging them to prefer beverages like tea, which has a bitter flavor more subtle than coffee. In fact, the accessory-sensitive group was also less likely to drink alcohol, especially red wine.

The study has a number of disadvantages. On the one hand, it relies heavily on self-reported data, which is not necessarily reliable. The analysis is focused on individuals of white British descent, so that it may not reflect drinking preferences among other demographic data.

In addition, as co-author of the study, Jue Sheng Ong, told Laura Geggel of Science live, the research did not take into account the flavors – such as cream and sugar – that people use to reduce the bitter taste of coffee. And beyond genetics, says Ong, "many factors determine a person's coffee consumption: their socio-economic status, their ability to metabolize caffeine, and smoking."

Nevertheless, the study offers new evidence suggesting that while choosing to have a coffee or tea with your toast may not seem like an important decision, complex biological factors may play a role in shaping human taste. And it's very nice.

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