Family Chow Hall

The Picky Eater Gene

January 30th, 2006

No kidding, there really is such a thing as a picky eater gene - it’s called the phenylthiocarbamide gene.

Your picky eater isn’t trying to make your every meal a nightmare. He/she may truly taste certain foods differently than you do.

You see, back in 1931, a chemist named Arthur Fox discovered that a certain compound - phenylthiocarbamide - tasted extremely bitter to some people, while others could detect no taste at all. After a little research, he realized that it is a genetic characteristic. Read more.

Those of us who don’t do cartwheels over foods like broccoli, cabbage, and radishes probably have the bitter-taste gene, while those people who will munch on a wider variety of foods probably don’t have it.

That means good news and bad news for bitter-sensitive people…

The Good News: Bitter tasters have less tendency towards smoking and alcoholism. Hooray!

The Bad News: Bitter tasters tend to have less variety in their diet and eat fewer fiber-rich vegetables. They also get nagged by their mothers alot more.

If you pay attention to people you know well, you can probably guess the tasters from the non-tasters. I don’t smoke, don’t drink much, don’t like broccoli, etc. I can also think of some people who are the exact opposite.

The long and short of this message is this: If your child is a picky eater, lay off a little and be understanding. Give him or her options. I’m not saying he should be allowed to live on cheese puffs, but don’t expect him to dance a jig of glee over sauerkraut, either. I like to make my kids try foods, but I don’t force-feed them large amounts of them. We have a bag of carrot sticks in the fridge that they can help themselves to if they want. That way I can feel like they got their veggies and they are not fighting the urge to gag on their cauliflower.

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