The human sweet tooth.
The human sweet tooth.
复制标题
DOI：
10.1186/1472-6831-6-s1-s17
复制
发表时间：
2006-06-15
期刊：
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
McDaniel AH
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Reed DR;McDaniel AH
人类喜欢糖的味道，“甜”这个词不仅用来描述这种基本的味道质量，而且还用来描述令人渴望或愉快的东西，例如，多尔采生活。虽然糖或甜味食品通常是最受欢迎的选择，但并不是每个人都喜欢糖，特别是在高浓度下。我们小组的研究重点是了解为什么有些人喜欢甜食而有些人不喜欢。我们已经在人类、大鼠、小鼠、猫和灵长类动物中使用了遗传和分子技术来了解甜味感知的起源。我们的研究表明，有两个甜味受体基因（TAS1R2和TAS1R3），这两个基因之一的等位基因预测了一些哺乳动物喝甜溶液的亲和力。我们还发现了甜味和苦味感知之间的关系。遗传上对苦味化合物更敏感的儿童报告说，非常甜的溶液更令人愉快，他们更喜欢甜的碳酸饮料而不是牛奶，相对于对苦味不敏感的同龄人。总的来说，人们在感知基本口味的能力上是不同的，特定的基因和经验可能会驱使一些人，而不是其他人，走向引发龋齿的甜食。未来的研究将旨在了解对甜食和饮料的遗传偏好如何有助于龋齿的发展。
Humans love the taste of sugar and the word "sweet" is used to describe not only this basic taste quality but also something that is desirable or pleasurable, e.g., la dolce vita. Although sugar or sweetened foods are generally among the most preferred choices, not everyone likes sugar, especially at high concentrations. The focus of my group's research is to understand why some people have a sweet tooth and others do not. We have used genetic and molecular techniques in humans, rats, mice, cats and primates to understand the origins of sweet taste perception. Our studies demonstrate that there are two sweet receptor genes (TAS1R2 and TAS1R3), and alleles of one of the two genes predict the avidity with which some mammals drink sweet solutions. We also find a relationship between sweet and bitter perception. Children who are genetically more sensitive to bitter compounds report that very sweet solutions are more pleasant and they prefer sweet carbonated beverages more than milk, relative to less bitter-sensitive peers. Overall, people differ in their ability to perceive the basic tastes, and particular constellations of genes and experience may drive some people, but not others, toward a caries-inducing sweet diet. Future studies will be designed to understand how a genetic preference for sweet food and drink might contribute to the development of dental caries.