'Supertasters' find lower salt levels make foods too bitter to eat

by Richard Alleyene - 17/06/2010

"Some people are put off the new generation of healthy foods because lower salt levels make them too bitter to eat, research has shown. "

Public health experts and food companies have been working together to combat high salt intake which can increase the risk of high blood pressure and strokes.

But despite well publicised effort to get people to swap to low salt foods they simply may not taste as good for some.

The reduction in salt could therefore be counterproductive.

Every day 26 million adults in the UK eat too much salt, according to the Food Standards Agency.

John Hayes, one of the authors of the study, said: "Most of us like the taste of salt.

"However, some individuals eat more salt, both because they like the taste of saltiness more, and also because it is needed to block other unpleasant tastes in food.

"Supertasters, people who experience tastes more intensely, consume more salt than do non-tasters.

"Snack foods have saltiness as their primary flavour, and at least for these foods, more is better, so the supertasters seem to like them more."

He said that supertasters, who make up a quarter of the population, lived in a neon world compared to the pastel word of non tasters.

The study got 87 non-smoking men and women who sampled salty foods like broth, chips and pretzels on a number of occasions and rate the intensity of taste.

They found that supertasters, who have a larger number of more intense taste buds, need higher levels of salt to block unpleasant bitter tastes in foods like cheese.

Mr Hayes said: "Cheese is a wonderful blend of dairy flavours from fermented milk, but also bitter tastes from ripening that are blocked by salt.

"A super-taster finds low-salt cheese unpleasant because the bitterness is too pronounced."

It has long been accepted that people are able to taste certain chemicals differently and a wide variation of taste acuity exists.

Mr Hayes said: "Supertasters describe bitter compounds as being extremely bitter, while others, called non-tasters, find these same bitter compounds to be tasteless or only weakly bitter.

"Response to bitter compounds is one of many ways to identify biological differences in food preference because supertasting is not limited to bitterness.

"Individuals who experience more bitterness also perceive more saltiness in table salt, more sweetness from table sugar, more burn from chilli peppers, and more tingle from carbonated drinks."

But, despite their need to block the bitter flavours, it doesn't mean super-tasters are the first ones to reach for the salt cellar.

Mr Hayes added: "Interestingly, non-tasters may be more likely to add salt to foods at the table because they need more salt to reach the same level of perceived saltiness as a super-taster.

"However, most of the salt we consume comes from salt added to processed foods and not from the salt shaker."

The FSA recommends adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day. To cut down on salt intake they advise comparing labels, opting for low salt alternatives and not adding it to foods.

The study was published in the journal Physiology and Behaviour.

More Details: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7832650/Supertasters-find-lower-salt-levels-make-foods-too-bitter-to-eat.html