The Science Behind: Supertasters
As a baker and food lover, I am proud to say that I am part of the 25% of Americans that have an above average number of fungiform papillae. To me, chocolate ice cream is uncomfortably bitter, carbonated drinks are painful, and spicy foods come with a death wish. I am a supertaster.

There are three taste sensitivity categories: supertasters, average tasters, and nontasters. 50% of Americans are average tasters and have anywhere between 15 and 35 fungiform papillae in an area of six millimeters on their tongue, whereas supertasters boast between 35 and 60. The remaining 25% of Americans who are non-tasters have less than 15.

This categorization of taste sensitivity all began when a chemist, Arthur Fox, dropped a bottle of PTC — phenylthiocarbamide — which sent a burst of the white powder into the air. Fox’s colleague complained about the powder’s disgustingly bitter taste, but Fox tasted nothing. Further investigations showed that about 70% of the population could taste PTC. Sixty years later, psychologist Linda Bartoshuk re-visited Fox’s experiments using PROP — 6-n-propylthiouracil — which is related to PTC. For those who could taste PROP, she coined the term supertaster.

The reason why supertasters are more sensitive is because they have an above average number of fungiform papillae — little mushroom-shaped lumps on the tongue that hold taste buds. Taste buds have cells inside them that send nerve impulses up the taste nerves to your brain, signaling which receptors your taste buds have encountered. This brings out a specific set of flavors. If you have more fungiform papillae, you have more taste buds. If you have more taste buds, you have more nerve signals coming to your brain, creating a more intense flavor.

However, taste sensitivity doesn’t depend solely on your tongue. All your other senses have a part as well. When you can’t see what you’re eating, it tastes blander. If something is louder or crunchier, it seems to taste better, and, most importantly, without smelling a food, it will have hardly any flavor. Surprisingly, it isn’t what you smell directly that has the largest impact. It’s retronasal smell — odors that enter your nasal passages from the back of the mouth, usually as exhaling or swallowing — that account for as much as 80–85% of a food’s flavor, so being a supertaster doesn’t only mean your tongue has superpowers; your nose does, too!

To the gifted few, being a supertaster may seem like a curse. It’s impossible to enjoy some culinary experiences without disgust and pain. If food is bad, to supertasters, it is truly horrific.

However, this superpower does come with several positives. My sensitivity helps improve my baking and cooking while allowing me to enjoy mild flavors. Also, supertasters are less likely to be smokers or alcoholics and can be immune to taste deprivation from aging!

Cells are in a constant state of turnover — they die and are replaced — but for most people as they get older, the replacement rate starts to slow to the point where more are lost than replaced. Since supertasters already have a surplus of fungiform papillae and a sensitive schnoz, there is no problem with losing some sensitivity. As supertasters become old, they will finally be average.
Works Cited
Crosby, Guy. “Super-Tasters and Non-Tasters: Is it Better to Be Average?” Harvard T.H. Chan, President and Fellows of Harvard College, 31 May 2016, www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2016/05/31/super-tasters-non-tasters-is-it-better-to-be-average/. Accessed 18 July 2017.
Holmes, Bob. “Picky Eater? You Might Be a Supertaster.” Science of Us, New York Media, 27 Apr. 2017, nymag.com/scienceofus/article/picky-eater-you-might-be-a-supertaster.html. Accessed 18 July 2017.
Rupp, Rebecca. “Are You a Supertaster?” National Geographic, 30 Sept. 2014, theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/09/30/are-you-a-supertaster/. Accessed 18 July 2017.
— Isabella S., Pennsylvania
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