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Science

A Link Between Taste Buds And Cancer 29

Posted by timothy from the it-puts-the-paper-on-its-tongue dept.
pphrdza writes "The Times Online has an article on research to be published in April about 'supertasters,' those of us who don't eat our veggies, being more susceptible to cancer. On the upside, supertasters don't have heart attacks."
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A Link Between Taste Buds And Cancer More

A Link Between Taste Buds And Cancer

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  • Eat your veggies, die a fairly quick death from heart attack.

    Don't eat them, die a slow, agonizing death from cancer...

    Hmm...
    =Smidge=


  • Eat your veggies, die a fairly quick death from heart attack.

    Don't eat them, die a slow, agonizing death from cancer...

    Force yourself to eat veggies, and you'll reduce the chance of dying from either.

    Yes, even those with a sensitive palate can cram green veggies down their esophogas (sp?). For broccoli, a food I normally can't stand, a ranch dip actually livens up the taste while masking most of the bitter flavor. Just some food for thought. (no pun intended)


    • > For broccoli, a food I normally can't stand, a ranch dip actually livens up the taste while masking most of the bitter flavor.

      Having someone hold a gun to your head makes it positively delicious!

    • Bitter broccoli? Where in the hell is your brocolli grown?? - lightly steam them up and put a tiny bit of butter on.. i could eat buckets of it!!! mmmmmm irony green goodness - I can feel my body fixing itself when i eat it!!
  • No where in the article does it mention heart attacks. I wouldn't doubt it if these people who didn't like veggies also had more heart attacks.

    The article also states that the people who avoided veggies had higher-than-average sensitivity to bitterness, not supertasting as you've dubbed it. Which makes sense, since green veggies have bitterness as one of their flavour components.
    • Although supertasters have a higher risk of cancer, they appear to have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, according to work by Dr Bartoshuk's colleague, Valerie Duffy.

      This is probably because they do not tend to like sweet and fatty foods, as their sensitive mouths respond badly to the texture of fat.

      Cardiovascular disease. Sounds close enough to heart attack to me.

      And he didn't dub them supertasters. That term was used by the first people to study the differences in taste bud density years ago.

      Read the article again.

    • Now you didn't really read the article properly did you ?

      The word "supertasters" is used as an existing definition of people with hypersensitivity.

      And although the phrase "heart attack" is not used the cardiovascular consequences are described. Which translates into 'heart attack'.

  • Mostly because the longer you live in our atmosphere with the nastiness we put in it, and all the nasties we put in our foods if cancer wasn't one of the main reasons people died, I would be surprised.

  • Is there anything that DOESN'T cause it?

    Given enough time and research you can prove anything

    Everyone that ever lived died, should we stop reproduction?

  • Scientists have found the number one cause of death;

    Life!
  • Yes, vegetables are horribly bitter, but they can be eaten if you try. At the very least take a multivitamin daily. Some vegetables are worse than others. Broccoli is simply inedible, but green beans, romaine lettuce, peas, and a few others are edible.

    That being said, I pity those who can't taste the nuances of a great wine or cigar. I feel bad for those certain people can't tell the difference between Franzia and a first growth Bordeaux.
    • > I feel bad for those certain people can't tell the difference between Franzia and a first growth Bordeaux.

      Not saying you're not a supertaster, but the wine bit would actually be your sense of smell. [ktca.org]
      "As much as 80 percent of what we perceive as taste is actually smell. Humans can discern about 20,000 different odours and 10 or more intensities of each."

      Whereas your sense of taste only recognizes 5 things: Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and fat/protein.

      My ultra-senstive nose is a also blessing when it comes to food and drink, but it's also quite revolting sometimes, public transportation comes to mind.
    • Damnit. Does it mean I'm a supertaster?
      I do envy all the other people who like Broccoli. I can't stand it.. I'm not sure if it's because it's bitter, but I just can't enjoy eating it in any way.

      I also frequently complain that the lettuce is bitter, but if I use only the inner leaves I usually have no problems.. and I like peas, parsley and cucumbers. I don't have problems with most types of sugary foods.. although I don't like excess sugar.

      So.. the only way to find whether I'm a supertaster or not is to soak my tongue in blue food coloring [ontariosciencecentre.ca]? I wish there was some other way. I guess I'm an above-average-taster, but not a supertaster.
    • >I feel bad for those certain people can't tell the difference between Franzia and a first growth Bordeaux. Interesting, I feel bad for those certain people who are starving to death.
  • I just got a new TMBG kids CD from the library, "NO". It too talks about supertasters, in particular John Lee, supertaster.

    John Lee Supertaster
    Nothing tastes the same to a supertaster
    When he tastes a pear it's like a hundred pears!
    He's got superpowers!
    He is a supertaster!
    Every flavor explodes! Explodes and explodes!
    John Lee Supertaster tastes more than we do
    Everything has a flavor some flavors are too much
    Can't shut his mouth 'cause he's a Supertaster!
    Though he looks like a man he is a Supertaster
    Can't drink coffee or beer 'cause he's a Supertaster!
    He loves ice cream and pie! He is a Supertaster
    John Lee Supertaster tastes more than we know
    Everything has a flavor some flavors must go
    They probably didn't realize thet John Lee was gonna die of cancer, poor supertaster. Maybe they'll hold a benefit concert for him.

    On the upside, the other 360MB of CD space (that which is not consumed by music) is full of flash files that animate 13 of the 17 songs. Pretty spiffy interactive super fun kids animations no less. I think I like Bed the best, but we'll have to see if my toddler approves.

    -Adam
  • I had some trouble pulling up the article, but I found another article [eurekalert.org] using google. Isn't google amazing!?!

  • Just a reminder here, it is a very intriguing correlation that more supertasters were found in the group of cancer patients, but the links from supertaster->few veggies->not enough antioxidants->cancer are purely speculation. I expect the scientists said that the the news media tends to report such things as proven...

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