People Sensitive To Caffeine's Bitter Taste Drink More Coffee, Study Finds (npr.org) 60
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: A team of researchers conducted their analysis using data stored in something called the UK Biobank. More than 500,000 people have contributed blood, urine and saliva samples to the biobank, which scientists can use to answer various research questions. The volunteers also filled out questionnaires asking a variety of health-related questions, including how much coffee they drink. Part of what determines our sensitivity to bitter substances is determined by the genes we inherit from our parents. So the researchers used genetic analysis of samples from the biobank to find people who were more or less sensitive to three bitter substances: caffeine, quinine (think tonic water) and a chemical called propylthiouracil that is frequently used in genetic tests of people's ability to taste bitter compounds.
Then they looked to see if people sensitive to one or more of these substances drank more or less coffee than people who were not sensitive. To the researchers' surprise, people who were more sensitive to caffeine reported increased coffee consumption compared with people who were less sensitive. The result was restricted to the bitterness of caffeine. People sensitive to quinine and propylthiouracil -- neither of which is in coffee -- tended to drink less coffee. The effect of increased caffeine sensitivity was small: it only amounted to about two tablespoons more coffee per day. But by analyzing so many samples, the researchers were able to detect even small differences like that. The reason may be that people "learn to associate that bitter taste with the stimulation that coffee can provide," says one of the study authors.
Then they looked to see if people sensitive to one or more of these substances drank more or less coffee than people who were not sensitive. To the researchers' surprise, people who were more sensitive to caffeine reported increased coffee consumption compared with people who were less sensitive. The result was restricted to the bitterness of caffeine. People sensitive to quinine and propylthiouracil -- neither of which is in coffee -- tended to drink less coffee. The effect of increased caffeine sensitivity was small: it only amounted to about two tablespoons more coffee per day. But by analyzing so many samples, the researchers were able to detect even small differences like that. The reason may be that people "learn to associate that bitter taste with the stimulation that coffee can provide," says one of the study authors.
Seems like bitter can be appealing though (Score:5, Interesting)
It could be that people associate bitter taste with the stimulation coffee gives; but what if people just like bitter tastes?
Though I don't really drink coffee (it has in the past generally had the opposite effect for me, making me sleepy) I love the taste and eat lots of coffee flavored stuff just for the taste. Same for bitter chocolate, and I think a number of other foods.
There's no "reward" in it for me apart from the taste, so I can see a lot of people simply liking a bitter taste even without any benefit of alertness involved...
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Re:Seems like bitter can be appealing though (Score:4, Insightful)
I suspect we can conclude nothing about bitter flavor and coffee preference from this other than they're correlated.
Stuff like this gets correlated all the time. It could be like red hair's correlation with altered pain perception; both are diverse effects of a single underlying mutation. Genetic variations with bitter tasting are also associated with trans-cellular membrane transport of certain classes of proteins that have effects throughout the body.
Or it could be that people learn to like the bitter flavor of coffee in the way that dogs learn to enjoy the sound of the dog trainer's clicker device. This is how people tend to crave foods that they habitually eat, even if they don't initially like those foods. The same goes for listening to music, which is why record companies do their best to saturate your experience with a new song. As long as they aren't conscious of being forced to listen to the song, the more they've heard a song the more they'll seek to hear it again.
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This seems a lot more likely, since if you drink the same amount of coffee consistently every day it doesn't have much of a stimulative effect.
For that reason, I would expect people who use it as a stimulant to have much lower total consumption.
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No reward in it for you apart from the taste, baw hah hah. Don't you live in a little fantasy world. I can assure you if you are drinking fully decaffeinated coffee, it is the caffeine that has you hooked, regardless of whether you accept it or not. To test yourself, simply drop all caffeine consumption for 24 hours and see how you feel. You might not consciously notice the continuous dribble of caffeine but your brain will and its physiological state will alter when caffeine no longer enters for an extende
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I can assure you if you are drinking fully decaffeinated coffee, it is the caffeine that has you hooked,
That's the thing though, I'm not drinking any coffee - defat or otherwise, because like I said the few times I tried it made me sleepy (like almost fell asleep at the wheel sleepy one time).
I'm more talking about coffee flavor in things - like ice cream, or ground up bits of coffee in chocolate. Along with many other bitter flavors.
It's enough of a variety of bitter things that I like, I'm pretty sure s
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No reward in it for you apart from the taste, baw hah hah. Don't you live in a little fantasy world. I can assure you if you are drinking fully decaffeinated coffee, it is the caffeine that has you hooked, regardless of whether you accept it or not. To test yourself, simply drop all caffeine consumption for 24 hours and see how you feel. You might not consciously notice the continuous dribble of caffeine but your brain will and its physiological state will alter when caffeine no longer enters for an extended period of time.
Challenge accepted. I drink one or two decaf lattes a day. I make it myself on the coffee machine at work, so I pull the espresso only for the first 10 seconds or so while it's still dark and thick. This produces about 10 drops, about 1tsp worth, not quite enough to cover the bottom of the cup. I add about 2tbl of frothed milk.
I don't consume any other caffeine products (I have a pretty basic diet - salads for lunch and dinner, with grains and steamed vegetables and no dessert, and water to drink but no alc
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This sounds like an exit poll conducted after a secret AA meeting.
The vast majority of coffee drinkers are operating in the dependency zone. This is where you can't go without coffee for more than 24 hours without at least feeling lethargic, and more likely, gett
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Caffeine pills are $0.05 each on Amazon. I'm surprised you're trying to save that cost.
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I find cheap run-of-the-mill coffee disgusting, but I do like good coffee. Interestingly, in the context of the subject, what I would call a good coffee is not bitter at all.
That said, caffeine is irrelevant. You only "need" caffeine if you've become used to it. If you just stop taking caffeine, whether as coffee or as pills, after a few days of withdrawal symptoms (headache) you'll be just as awake without caffeine as you used to be with it before.
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It's not a very useful measurement. Is that two tablespoons of ground beans, instant granules, espresso, or the milk and ice with about 1ppm of actual coffee which places like Starbucks sell?
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I don't like Tonic Water at all. I can't stand sugar in my coffee, and love coffee. I also prefer my coffee ICED
Re: Alternative (Score:2)
Try adding some gin to your tonic water!
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Why ruin Gin with Tonic? That's Gross.
Gin straight over ice, maybe with a dash of lemon.
i love a good cup of strong coffee (Score:3)
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i have two Bialetti Moka pots, a French press and two stove top percolators, one percolator is over 50 years old its a Revereware with a copper bottom,
(one moks pot and a french press here).
Percolators seem to have gone way out of fashion at the moment. My in-laws have a vintage ceramic bodied elecric one. Produces amazing coffee.
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i have two Bialetti Moka pots, a French press and two stove top percolators, one percolator is over 50 years old its a Revereware with a copper bottom,
I love good coffee, however coffee shouldn't be bitter.
America does so many culinary items quite well, however coffee is one of the few failures because it's brewed to be extremely bitter. It completely ruins the flavour of the coffee.
Coffee in the UK or Australia is vastly more drinkable and flavoursome and rarely bitter.
I've got a Gaggia espresso maker and Aeropress for work. I use quality coffee, my favourite is imported from Antioquia, Colombia but at a pinch M&S beans will suffice. Its the
Really? (Score:3)
People who like bitter stuff drink bitter stuff?
Who would have thought?
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They said they were sensitive to it, not that they like it.
I am very sensitive to bitter tastes, do not like them, avoid most bitter foods, and drink a lot of black coffee despite the fact that I don't like the bitterness. In an odd way, that is sort of why I drink it. I posted below that that sort of makes it worthwhile in a medicinal way.
My wife doesn't seem to have the ability to taste "bitter" and so would be determined to not be sensitive to bitterness. She likes a lot of foods that I consider very bit
Spurious correlation (Score:1)
This is a spurious correlation. Comb through enough data, you don't get extra sensitivity like these idiot study authors think, you find spurious correlations.
this is (Score:2)
Probably why I like the taste of 5 hour energy yet think caffiene free coke is disgusting.
Yep, still bitter... (Score:2)
Surly this one will be good...
(sip)
Nope. Still bitter.
I drink a liter of coffee a day. Good coffee, that costs more than most people are willing to pay. It's not bitter. It's coffee flavored. I have a $150 grinder for the whole bean coffee I buy. I'm considering purchasing raw beans and having a go at roasting them in the oven.
I'm a coffee snob.
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If your coffee grinder [amazon.com] costs less than a few thousand, you are just a coffee-snob-wannabe.
So ... (Score:2)
... why do I like decaf?
It tastes bad... (Score:2)
therefore it is doing something.
In general, I think this falls into our "no pain, no gain" prejudice. People routinely feel more like they are doing something worthwhile to solve a problem when the something they are doing is unpleasant in some fashion - be it exercise, diet, medicine, work, etc.