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The Genetic Reasons Why You Love (or Hate) Certain Foods
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May 21, 2025
Weird History Food is getting into the Genetic Reasons Why You Like Certain Foods. Here's some good news for picky eaters: genetic dispositions cause you to enjoy the taste of certain foods but not others. If some cultural food choices seem baffling to you, that's normal.
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Today, we're going to take a look at the genetic reasons why you like and dislike certain foods
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A typical person can differentiate five different families of flavor. Sweet, salt, sour, bitter, and umami
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Our taste buds age just like the rest of our bodies, so they can become less sensitive over time
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Early childhood experiences with food, even ones that happen while we're still in the womb or still breastfeeding
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can influence how we perceive taste throughout the rest of our lives. Lower levels of serotonin, often found in people who suffer from depression
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seem to diminish our ability to differentiate between sweet, sour, and bitter flavors
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The painful sensation that comes from spicy cuisine is actually caused by a substance called capsaicin
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which irritates the sensory neurons in tissue. The chemical essentially binds itself to the neuron's heat receptor
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which triggers something akin to the feeling we get when something is too hot. In other words, spicy is really a kind of injury to your mouth
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But how much capsaicin do you need to feel the burn is going to depend on your DNA
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A 2012 study of identical twins found that genetic factors accounted for anywhere from
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18 to 58% of variations in the enjoyment of spicy food. But if you're the disciplined type, you can train yourself to like spicy foods by just
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eating them a lot. Cilantro is the name for the leaves of the coriander plant, and to many people, it has
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a flavor akin to parsley or citrus. But to some people, cilantro tastes like getting your mouth washed out after swearing in church
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According to one study it has to do with a cluster of olfactory receptor genes part of the genome which influences our sense of smell Buried with that cluster is a gene called OR6A2 and that gene determines whether we think cilantro
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is tasty or soapy. More than one-fifth of East Asian people taste cilantro as soapy
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compared to much lower numbers in other populations. Lactose intolerance means you can't digest dairy
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but more specifically, according to the eggheads at John Hopkins Medical School
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lactose intolerance happens when your small intestine does not make enough of a digestive
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enzyme called lactase. Lactase breaks down the lactose in food so your body can absorb it
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Roughly 90% of people of East Asian heritage in general are allergic to lactose, as are 80
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of African Americans and Native Americans. Only around 14% of Caucasian people worldwide are
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lactose intolerant. This could be the result of the abundance of dairy and European diets
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throughout history. Celiac disease is a health issue in which an immune system reaction is
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triggered whenever a person consumes gluten, which are the proteins found in grains such as wheat and
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barley. It's a genetic condition, and studies show that those who have a first-degree relative
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with celiac disease have a 1 in 10 risk of developing it themselves. We all know a few
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people who have a weakness for chocolate, but according to science, that weakness may very well
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be a genetic one. It all starts in the taste receptors, in this case the TAS1R2 gene, which
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is associated with the perception of sweetness. According to studies, variations in this particular
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taste receptor can play a part in determining whether a person prefers sweet or savory flavors
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So whip out the genetic excuse the next time someone gives you guff for eating cake for breakfast
#Allergies
#Candy & Sweets
#Food