Home >> Industry News >> Bitter Perception Affects Coffee Drinking A recent study published by Australian researchers suggests that people's perception of bitter substances is related to having a specific set of genes, which can affect their preferences for coffee, tea or alcohol. Relevant papers are published in the Science Report.


Jue-Sheng Ong, Liang-Dar Hwang and colleagues at the Queensland Institute of Medicine used samples from more than 400,000 participants in the British Biological Sample Bank to assess the effects of bitterness perception on coffee, tea and alcohol intake by analyzing genetic variations associated with the perception of three bitter substances: propionylthiouracil (PROP), quinine and caffeine. Ring.


Researchers found that higher sensitivity to caffeine bitterness (determined by specific genes) was associated with higher coffee intake, while higher sensitivity to PROP and quinine was associated with lower coffee intake. People who are more sensitive to caffeine bitterness are more likely to become heavy coffee drinkers.


On the contrary, the higher sensitivity to PROP and quinine, the more tea intake; and the higher sensitivity to caffeine, the less tea intake. For alcohol, a stronger perception of PROP would lead to a decrease in alcohol intake, but a stronger perception of the other two types of compounds had no significant effect.


These findings suggest that genetic differences in bitterness perception may explain why some people prefer coffee while others prefer tea.

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