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Ever find yourself fantasizing about decadent sweets on the last few miles of your run? Some of us can’t wait to get our hands on a caramel ice cream brownie sundae!
But some of my runner friends find their teeth aching at the mere thought of an indulgence as sweet as that. Countless people also avoid treats believing that eating them causes your body to crave more sugary foods. However, a recent study proposes that your genes might be responsible for your perception of sweet.
The researchers selected a sample of 1,901 adolescents and young adults between the ages of 12 and 26 years. The sample included 243 pairs of identical twins, 452 pairs of fraternal twins, and 511 unpaired individuals. The researchers asked the participants to taste and rate the sweetness intensity of four sweeteners: glucose, fructose, aspartame, and neohesperidine dihydrochalcone (NHDC)
The study found a common genetic factor appeared to be responsible for more than 75 percent of the genetic variance in the four sweeteners. This suggests the differences in perceived sweet intensity are due to a single set of genes. The variation in sweet perception may lead those born with a weak sweet perception to sprinkle more sugar on their strawberries to achieve the same level of sweetness as others.
Read full, original post: Have a Sweet Tooth? Maybe Blame Your Genes
