German researchers discover why it‘s good to hate cabbage
Researchers in Germany - the spiritual home of cabbage cuisine - have discovered why some people can’t stomach the taste of this often vilified vegetable.
The cause, according to Wolfgang Meyerhof and his team at the German Institute for Food Research, is a gene that makes some people abnormally sensitive to the bitter substances phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and propylthiouracil (PROP).
Dr Meyerhof and colleagues discovered that the gene affects the performance of the human taste receptor hTAS2R38, ensuring that carriers are sickened by spinach and confounded by cabbage.
But aside from having a watertight excuse for not eating their greens, carriers of the cabbage-hating gene may enjoy a significant health benefit as a result of their aversion.
According to Dr Meyerhof, people who are unaffected by the taste of PTC and PROP are more likely to eat fatty foods and become overweight, whereas the presence of this single gene can have a significant and beneficial effect on eating behaviour.
So it’s official (kind of): not eating cabbage can keep you looking comely. And if the EU really wants to improve the popularity of science among young people, CORDIS Express suggests that this research would be a good place to start…