Scientists from the United States found that the difference in perception of the taste of various alcoholic beverages in different people is due to genetically.

Specialists from the American University of Connecticut believe that the determining receptor is the taste receptor, encoded by the TAS2R38 gene and responsible for the perception of bitterness, or rather the substance 6-n-propylthiouracil (6-n-propylthiouracil, PROP).

From differences in the perception of PROP and the taste of addiction and the amount of alcohol consumed. Those who do not perceive or perceive the bitterness of this substance, consider alcoholic beverages tasty and more prone to their consumption. Those who are sensitive to the bitterness of PROP, experience different degrees of aversion to alcohol - up to complete rejection - precisely because of its "insipidity". In particular, this may be associated with the dislike of most women for beer, as the most bitter liquor.

A survey of 84 volunteers confirmed the theoretical calculations.

People with reduced sensitivity to PROP twice consumed alcoholic beverages than people with increased sensitivity to the substance (among them - most women).

Head of the study, nutritionist Valerie Duffy explains that all the differences in the perception of PROP are normal, they do not mean that someone has a normal taste, and someone has a disrupted. Just our nutritional preferences have a genetic basis. The results obtained can help to understand the causes of alcoholism and to develop measures to prevent this disease.

Medicus. En.

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