Do you hate vegetables? You’re not alone. About are “super-tasters”. Super-tasters have more taste buds than other people and are super sensitive to the bitter compounds found in some food and drinks, even at low concentrations. If you have inherited super-taster genes then vegetables (flower vegetables in the cabbage family) like bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, radish, swede, turnip, and watercress will taste disgusting. 
Their bitter taste is due to mustard oils that are produced from a naturally occurring chemical called when the vegetables are cut, chewed or cooked. This also leads to the release of sulphur molecules, which you can smell during prolonged cooking. Cruciferous vegetables are especially high in glucosinolates and super-tasters find these up to 60 per cent more bitter compared to non-tasters.
In the general population about , who have no genetic taste aversions to bitter compounds and the other 50 per cent are between and called “medium tasters”. Sensitivity to bitter compounds does with children being more sensitive to bitter taste than adults.
Take the super-taster test
So long as you don’t have an intolerance to blue food colouring, grab some, dip a cotton bud in it and paint the front part of your tongue.
Blue dye will stain most of the area, but not the papillae which house your taste buds. The as prominent pink dots. Stick out your tongue and take a picture.
Super-tasters because they have double the number of papillae compared to non-tasters. A word of caution, if you overdo the blue food colour and end up swallowing a lot, it might .
Glucosinolates and survival
Historically, the ability to taste glucosinolate could have conferred a survival advantage because super-tasters are and poisons, which are often bitter.
Some glucosinolate compounds interfere with iodine absorption. Avoiding these vegetables would have been an advantage because iodine is essential for normal thyroid function. Iodine deficiency in a pregnant woman can cause mental retardation in her offspring, with the most severe form called .
Super-tasters and health
In Australia, our most recent national health survey found that and met national recommendations. Vegetables with research showing higher intakes are associated with lower risk of weight gain, heart disease, some cancers, type 2 diabetes and age-related health decline.
Researchers examining links between super-tasters and mechanisms that regulate body weight have found , food habits, energy metabolism and the environment, which then influences BMI. Other studies have shown overall and non-tasters eat the most. The bottom line is, whether you are a super-taster, non-taster or in between, everyone needs to eat more vegetables.
How to trick your taste buds into loving vegetables
The good news is being around people who eat lots of vegetables, or having parents who eat a lot of vegetables . If you are in charge of trying to get others (or yourself) to eat more veges, try these strategies. Cooking and food preparation methods can help mask the bitter taste or reduce the sulphur smell.
1. Hide the bitter taste of broccoli and cauliflower by serving them with cheese sauce. Stir 1 heaped teaspoon of cornflour into a half cup of milk. Place in a small saucepan on low heat. When almost to the boil, drop in a slice of cheese, and stir until thick.
Here's , from Matthew Evans.2
Source: Alan Benson
2. Neutralise the taste with condiments. Black pepper contains , a pungent substance that acts as a decoy to bitter taste by . You can get the same effect with chilli or other “hot” spices.
3. All herbs, spices and flavours including basil, coriander, garlic, ginger, lemon juice or salt help override bitter taste buds receptors by stimulating such as savoury, salty or sour taste. Stir-fry chopped onion with garlic, add a herb or spice of your choice, then roughly chop vegetables and cook till still a bit crunchy.
4. Reduce the sulphur smell by cooking for as short a time as possible, like microwaving. If you do boil them, use a large saucepan and have the water boiling before you drop them in. This helps reduce release of the gas.
5. Lastly, increase your intake of vegetables that are not as bitter. Try beans, beetroot, carrots, corn, eggplant, lettuce, onion, peas, pumpkin and sweet potato.
This article was originally published on . Read the . Broccoli image via .
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