Most individuals are born with average taste buds, which means they can taste food just like anyone else. Supertasters have extra special taste buds that allow them to taste far beyond, than ordinary tasters. Supertasters are actually keen to every little taste and flavor of food.
Are supertasters really superior in tasting their food?
Some individuals believe supertasters enjoy their food a lot more than the average person. But, this is not necessarily true. Supertasters have a high sense of flavor, and other preservatives that are added into food. So, they may taste more bitter taste, and more salt that has been added into food products. A lot of supertasters tend to crave more salty foods. However, supertasters add less salt to their foods, because they can already taste the salt in foods, where those that are not supertasters have to add more salt to get the taste they desire.
Individuals are classified usually into three types of tasters. You have non-tasters, which cannot taste food whatsoever, society make up about 25% of these type people, and you have your average tasters at about 50% and then there are the supertasters, which make up the other 25%.
Supertasters are extra sensitive to certain foods such as alcohol, Brussels sprouts, spinach and spicy foods. It is very common to see more women being super tasters than men, and there are some ethnic groups that are more prone to have people, who are supertasters such as; African Americans and Asian descendants.
What makes a person a supertaster?
People wonder, what makes a person a supertaster? Some studies have been done and it believes it all lies with the papillae on the tongues. The more papillae a person have the more sensitive they are to tasting different foods. The less fungiform papillae would reduce a person’s chances of being a supertaster.
The health risk with being a supertaster
Supertasters do run the risk of contracting specific diseases such as colon cancer. This is because of flavornoid, which are usually found in fruits and vegetables. Supertasters seem to eat less of these foods because they do not have enough salt in them. Flavornoids help protect individuals against colon cancer, and since supertasters limit their amount of these foods, they put themselves at higher risk for developing the disease. But, a positive look at being a supertaster is they avoid fatty and sweet foods. This lowers their risk at developing cardiovascular diseases.
Being a supertaster has its good and bad qualities such as being a non-taster, or average taster would have theirs.
Resources:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127914467&ft=1&f=1003
http://ysm.research.yale.edu//article.jsp?articleID=77
