Genetics and how we taste

[Seehad]

Last year my son and I participated in a study at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science regarding fatty acid taste and genetics, diet, etc..

The study is led by Dr. Nicole Garneau, the Museum’s curator of human health, and Dr. Richard Mattes, distinguished professor of Nutrition Science at Purdue University.

“Research suggests that humans can detect the taste of fatty acids, but how individuals differ in fat perception is not known,” said Dr. Garneau. “To look into this question, the Genetics of Taste Lab is pursuing a new public research study. Using an omega-6 essential fatty acid, we will examine both genetic and environmental factors that might contribute to the ability to taste this important nutrient.”

It got me thinking about the nontaster, taster, supertaster test I did as a sophmore in highschool. I remember being a taster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

Which in turn got me thinking about how we taste juice. Obviously taste and percentages of flavors are subjective. Perhaps it's possible with this sort of science to better understand what may taste good to us. PTC test strips are readily available. Perhaps once the study on fatty acid taste is complete, there will be strips available. When I ordered regularly from a vendor (mister e-liquid) I often got small samples thrown in. Anything that contained any amount, of whatever chocolate they used, tasted like bile to me.

 

[TrashCat]

Interesting... Thanks!

 

[acidrain23]

Very interesting!

Anybody ever play the "guess the flavor" game with their friends? I find without prompting, almost no one ever gets it right. Of course, these are all current of former smokers with fried tastebuds but still. Handed my bud a pina colada vape. He guessed strawberry daquiri! Not even close! Lol. At best most people can only get the category (very broad categories, like "fruit" or "tobacco"). Now when I tell them what the flavor is, I inevitably get an "ooooohhhhh......".

To me that is weird! Context and anticipation are a huge part of the perception of flavors. This also means you can mess with people just by changing the name of your e-liquid. Flavor perception is a super interesting topic!

 

[freemind]

True!
I smoked for 25 years. Heavily.

My sense of smell/taste has returned some, but likely never will be as good as it used to. Vanillas taste terrible to me.

 

[wllmc]

it would be fun to get some of these strips

 

[Huckleberried]

True!
I smoked for 25 years. Heavily.

My sense of smell/taste has returned some, but likely never will be as good as it used to. Vanillas taste terrible to me.

Just curious, but how long since you quit and started vaping? It's been about 1.5 yrs for me and I'm still tasting things I couldn't just months ago. Smoking wreaks havoc on our mouths. Hopefully, you'll have the same experience. It'd be a real shame to not like some creamy smooth vanillas. That reallys sucks, I'm sorry you experience that. That would piss me off. I love vanilla.

Love the avatar, btw, LOL!

 

[Superjeep]

Here I was coming in thinking we were gonna have a nice chat about cannibalism and how good we humans taste.....bah

 

[freemind]

Just curious, but how long since you quit and started vaping? It's been about 1.5 yrs for me and I'm still tasting things I couldn't just months ago. Smoking wreaks havoc on our mouths. Hopefully, you'll have the same experience. It'd be a real shame to not like some creamy smooth vanillas. That reallys sucks, I'm sorry you experience that. That would piss me off. I love vanilla.

Love the avatar, btw, LOL!

Totally off stinky sticks for 2 weeks. I have been vaping though for several months.

 

[Huckleberried]

Totally off stinky sticks for 2 weeks. I have been vaping though for several months.

Your taste buds will greatly improve. If you like vanilla, then you're in for a real treat. If not, well then you aren't losing by not finding a good one

 

[Rin Vapes]

Scent has a lot to do with how something tastes... So maybe that is a factor here. I'm sure most of them aren't smelling the juice before they taste it. Even then, it's not quite the same as actually vaping it. I do find it interesting.

Anybody ever play the "guess the flavor" game with their friends? I find without prompting, almost no one ever gets it right.