ABSTRACT
The study of taste responsiveness to 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), and other thioamide-containing compounds has yielded an array of proven and promising insights. The strong genetic basis for sensitivity to these compounds has provided a tool to anthropologists for tracing family lineages and population migration patterns. There are well over 400 reports in the anthropology literature using this tool (1). Taste responses to PROP/PTC have also been linked to various health disorders. There are instances in which a causal association has been proposed [e.g., goiter (2), alcoholism (3, 4), selected cancers (5)]. More commonly, bitter sensitivity has been regarded as a marker of risk (e.g., schizophrenia, depression, vascular headache, duodenal ulcer, glaucoma, tuberculosis, leprosy, Down syndrome (6) or progression [e.g., diabetes (7), hypothyroidism (8)] of selected health disorders or of sensitivity to therapeutic agents (9). Although confirming data are lacking in each of £ these examples, the use of taste as an index of disease risk or marker of disease progression or remission holds promise. Associations between taste responses to PROP/PTC and various personal characteristics [e.g., selected a subscales of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (10)], visual motor function (2), and body habitus (9) have been documented as well. If verified, this may provide perspectives on individual behavior and performance. More recently, interest in individual differences in sensitivity to PROP has prompted research that has resulted in improved understanding of the multiple transduction mechanisms for bitterness (e.g., 11,12). This emerging knowledge holds implications for understanding of basic biological processes as well as product development by the food and pharmaceutical industries.
