Supertasters

How it works

On the front of the tongue, taste buds sit inside small bumps called fungiform papillae. Supertasters tend to have more of these papillae per square centimetre than other people¹. More papillae means more taste buds. Studies do not agree on how much this explains stronger taste².

The clearest difference is in bitterness. Scientists test for it with two bitter chemicals, PTC and PROP. PTC is toxic, so research now uses PROP¹³. To a non-taster, paper soaked in PROP tastes like paper. To a supertaster it is intensely bitter¹. The response is controlled mostly by the gene TAS2R38, which builds a bitter receptor. The PAV version of the gene tastes; the AVI version does not². But this gene does not explain supertasting. Some people with only one PAV copy are supertasters¹².

The effect goes beyond bitterness. Supertasters tend to find chilli hotter and sweet food sweeter, and they may like sweet and fatty food less¹. They often avoid bitter vegetables such as Brussels sprouts and kale, and they take in more salt from food, partly because salt masks bitterness¹⁵. Women are more likely to be supertasters than men¹.

How common it is

About 25% of people are supertasters, 50% are medium tasters, and 25% are non-tasters¹. The split varies between populations.

Try it

The reliable test uses PROP paper strips. A rough home version counts papillae.

1. Put a drop of blue food colouring on the tip of your tongue and spread it with a cotton bud. The tongue takes up the dye but the papillae mostly do not, so they show as pale pink dots.
2. Place a paper hole-punch reinforcement ring flat on the blue area.
3. Count the pink dots inside the ring using a mirror and a good light, or take a photo.
4. Around 30 or more dots suggests a supertaster. Around 15 or fewer suggests a non-taster⁴.

Is it a problem?

No. Being a supertaster or a non-taster is a normal genetic variation, not a disorder¹². The evidence on health is mixed. Female supertasters tend to have a lower body mass index. Eating fewer bitter vegetables may raise the risk of colon cancer¹. Non-tasters need a stronger dose of a bitter or spicy flavour to notice it. Heavy smokers are more likely to be non-tasters³. There is nothing here to check with a doctor.

History and culture

The chemist Arthur Fox discovered PTC taste blindness by accident in 1931. Powder he was handling blew across the lab. A colleague complained it tasted bitter. Fox tasted nothing³. The psychologist Linda Bartoshuk coined the term supertaster in the early 1990s¹.