Department of Pediatrics, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy.
J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2012 May;54(5):624-9. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0b013e3182473308.
The extent to which variation in taste perception influences food preferences is, to date, controversial. Bitterness in food triggers an innate aversion that is responsible for dietary restriction in children. We investigated the association among genetic variations in bitter receptor TAS2R38 and food choices in healthy children in the Mediterranean area, to develop appropriate tools to evaluate the relation among genetic predisposition, dietary habits, and feeding disorders. The aims of the study were to get a first baseline picture of taste sensitivity in healthy adults and their children and to explore taste sensitivity in a preliminary sample of obese children and in samples affected by functional gastrointestinal diseases.
Individuals (98 children, 87 parents, 120 adults) were recruited from the general population in southern Italy. Bitterness sensitivity was assessed by means of a suprathreshold method with 6-propyl-2-thiouracil. Genomic DNA from saliva was used to genotype individuals for 3 polymorphisms of TAS2R38 receptor, A49P, A262 V, and V296I. Food intake was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire.
Children's taste sensation differed from that of adults: we observed a higher frequency of supertasters among children even in the mother-child dyads with the same diplotypes. Among adults, supertaster status was related with proline-alanine-valine (taster allele) homozygous haplotype, whereas supertaster children were mainly heterozygous. Regarding the food choices, we found that a higher percentage of taster children avoided bitter vegetables or greens altogether compared with taster adults. Taster status was also associated with body mass index in boys.
Greater sensitivity to 6-propyl-2-thiouracil predicts lower preferences for vegetables in children, showing an appreciable effect of the genetic predisposition on food choices. None of the obese boys was a supertaster.
迄今为止，味觉感知的差异对食物偏好的影响程度仍存在争议。食物中的苦味会引发一种先天的厌恶感，从而导致儿童饮食受限。我们调查了地中海地区健康儿童中苦味受体 TAS2R38 的遗传变异与食物选择之间的关系，旨在开发适当的工具来评估遗传倾向、饮食习惯和喂养障碍之间的关系。本研究的目的是首先了解健康成年人及其子女的味觉敏感性，并探索肥胖儿童和功能性胃肠疾病患者样本中的味觉敏感性。
从意大利南部的普通人群中招募了个体（98 名儿童、87 名父母、120 名成年人）。采用 6-丙基-2-硫代尿嘧啶的阈上法评估苦味敏感性。使用唾液基因组 DNA 对 TAS2R38 受体的 3 个多态性（A49P、A262V 和 V296I）进行个体基因分型。通过食物频率问卷评估食物摄入量。
儿童的味觉感知与成年人不同：我们观察到即使在具有相同二倍型的母子对子中，儿童中超味觉者的频率也更高。在成年人中，超味觉状态与脯氨酸-丙氨酸-缬氨酸（味觉等位基因）纯合单倍型有关，而超味觉儿童主要是杂合子。关于食物选择，我们发现与味觉成人相比，更多的味觉儿童完全避免食用苦味蔬菜或绿叶蔬菜。味觉状态也与男孩的体重指数相关。
对 6-丙基-2-硫代尿嘧啶的敏感性更高可预测儿童对蔬菜的偏好较低，表明遗传倾向对食物选择有明显影响。没有一个肥胖的男孩是超味觉者。
