Your genes make you tea or coffee lover, reveals study

According to researchers, whether you are a tea or coffee person depends on your genetic predisposition towards bitter tastes.

Editorial Team | Published: November 17, 2018 11:10 am

It depends on your genes whether you are a tea or a coffee lover. ©Shutterstock

Some of us love coffee and some love tea. But, do you know that this choice of yours is connected to your genetic predisposition? Yes, you have heard it right! This is so because bitterness acts as a natural warning system to safeguard us from those toxic substances.

Reportedly, the study carried out by researchers from US-based Northwestern University, and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia, examined the reactions to three bitter substances — caffeine, quinine and propylthiouracil (PROP) — to observe how they affect people’s preference for drinking tea, coffee and alcohol.

The findings of the study revealed that people who were more sensitive to caffeine and were drinking a lot of coffee and consumed low amounts of tea. Hence, people who have a heightened ability to taste coffee’s bitterness — and particularly the distinct bitter flavour of caffeine — learn to connect ‘good things with it’.

According to Marilyn Cornelis, assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, people who are particularly sensitive to the bitter taste of caffeine would drink less coffee. But, the opposite results of the study reveal that coffee consumers acquire a taste or an ability to detect caffeine due to the learned positive reinforcement (stimulation) elicited by caffeine.

Reportedly, the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, also discovered that people sensitive to the bitter flavours of quinine and of PROP — a synthetic taste related to the compounds in cruciferous vegetables tend to avoid drinking coffee. When it comes to alcohol, a higher sensitivity to the bitterness of PROP resulted in lower alcohol consumption, particularly with red wine.

Reportedly, The findings suggest our perception of bitter tastes, informed by our genetics, contributes to the preference for coffee, tea and alcohol

To test the causal relationship between bitter taste and beverage consumption in more than 4,00,000 men and women in the UK, Mendelian randomisation — a technique commonly used in disease epidemiology, was applied by the scientists.

Published: November 17, 2018 11:10 am

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