Bitter Tastes & Higher Cancer Risk

According to an article by Maria Cohut and fact-checked by Jasmin Collier, some new research now suggests that a raised sensitivity to bitter tastes might be a good predictor for cancer risk in women. They are now investigating the link that might be between sensitivity to better tastes and cancer risk.

The new study was conducted by researchers from the College of Agricultural Sciences of Pennsylvania State University in State College with a team from Leeds University in the UK.

Joshua Lambert, lead researcher, and his team analyzed data that was related to lifestyle and diet factors using the health history of 5,500 British women over the age of 20. They studied a woman’s ability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), a chemical that can be looked at as either extremely bitter or tasteless, depending upon a person’s sensitivity, and how that can influence cancer risk.

The team considered the impact of genetic variants encoding the taste receptor that binds to PTC and allows an individual to receive its taste. The European Journal of Nutrition has published its findings.

Data was collected by the UK Women’s Cohort Study, founded in 1995 by the Leeds University researchers. They have been gathering information about possible links between chronic disease and the impact of dietary factors. They started with the premise that women with a high sensitivity to bitter tastes eat fewer vegetables and would be exposed to a higher cancer incidence.

The women were split into three groups by their ability to respond to the bitterness of PTC. The groups were super-tasters, tasters, and non-tasters. It revealed the super-taster and taster were at higher risk of cancer compared with those who could not taste the bitterness of PTC. A significant correlation with the number of veggies consumed in each group was not observed.

The difference was striking with super-tasters having a 58% higher risk of cancer incidence and the tasters had a 40% higher risk compared to the classified non-tasters. They were surprised to find whether or not the women were sensitive to bitter flavors had nothing to do with their long-term dietary preferences.

The women with greater bitter-taste sensitivity eating fewer veggies, putting them at a heightened risk for cancer was too narrow a concept. You are also less likely to drink alcohol if you have an aversion to bitter taste, and alcohol is a risk factor for cancer.

Dr Fredda Branyon