Institute of Genomic and Personalized Medicine, College of Life Science, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China.
Food Funct. 2019 Mar 20;10(3):1643-1652. doi: 10.1039/c8fo01578c.
Our ability to taste bitterness affects our food choices and alcohol consumption. Alleles in the taste 2 receptor member TAS2R38 have been linked to the ability to perceive bitterness in bitter-tasting compounds and in many foods, and people with these bitterness sensitivity alleles have been shown to be less likely to consume alcohol, presumably because of alcohol's bitter taste. In a survey of 519 participants, almost all of whom regularly consumed alcohol, we observed that genetic variants in TAS2R38 were significantly associated with both increased alcohol consumption and the ability to perceive bitterness in several foods and a bitter chemical. In total, we assayed 39 variants in 25 genes that have been implicated in the genetics of taste perception, and no other variants predicted alcohol consumption. Perception of bitterness in broccoli and a preference for black coffee were also positively associated with alcohol consumption. As the consumption of alcohol is a social activity there may be incentive to appreciate its bitter aspects, and increased perception of bitterness could therefore be associated with consumption of some bitter beverages. As this study's respondents were predominantly frequent consumers of alcohol, these findings may be consistent with previous studies that have seen that increased experience in the consumption of wine is associated with an increased perception of PROP bitterness. Further work elucidating the complex relationship between the genetics of bitter perception and alcohol consumption will better describe these connections.
我们感知苦味的能力会影响我们对食物的选择和对酒精的摄入。味觉 2 受体成员 TAS2R38 中的等位基因与感知苦味化合物和许多食物中的苦味的能力有关，具有这些苦味敏感度等位基因的人饮酒的可能性较小，这可能是因为酒精的苦味。在对 519 名参与者的调查中，几乎所有人都经常饮酒，我们观察到 TAS2R38 中的遗传变异与酒精摄入量的增加以及对几种食物和一种苦味化学物质的苦味感知能力显著相关。我们总共检测了 25 个味觉感知基因中的 39 个变体，没有其他变体可以预测酒精摄入量。对西兰花苦味的感知和对黑咖啡的偏好也与酒精摄入量呈正相关。由于饮酒是一种社交活动，人们可能有动力去欣赏其苦味，因此，苦味感知的增加可能与某些苦味饮料的摄入有关。由于本研究的受访者主要是酒精的频繁消费者，因此这些发现可能与之前的研究一致，这些研究表明，葡萄酒饮用经验的增加与 PROP 苦味感知的增加有关。进一步阐明苦味感知的遗传与酒精消费之间的复杂关系，将更好地描述这些联系。
