The relationship between PTC taster status and taste thresholds in young adults.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to compare taste detection and recognition thresholds of young males and females, and young phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) "tasters" and "nontasters" for stimuli representing sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami classes of taste sensations.


METHODS
Thirty-eight men and 37 women (mean [SD] age = 24.5 [2.5] years) were classified as PTC tasters and nontasters according to their PTC recognition thresholds. Detection and recognition thresholds for the non-PTC stimuli were determined using a 2-alternative, forced choice procedure.


RESULTS
The detection thresholds for quinine-HCl and sucrose and the recognition threshold for quinine-HCl were significantly higher in the PTC nontasters than in the tasters. The PTC threshold showed significant correlations with detection or recognition thresholds for sucrose, sodium chloride, quinine-HCl, and monosodium glutamate. The sucrose recognition threshold was lower in women than in men.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, gender and PTC taster status were found to be associated with thresholds for sucrose and quinine-HCl.
Hong
Ju-Hee
JH
Department of Oral Medicine and Oral Diagnosis, College of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Chung
Jin-Woo
JW
Kim
Young-Ku
YK
Chung
Sung-Chang
SC
Lee
Sung-Woo
SW
Kho
Hong-Seop
HS
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019343:Citric Acid; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D010670:Phenylthiourea; D011803:Quinine; D012737:Sex Factors; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D012970:Sodium Glutamate; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013395:Sucrose; D013652:Taste Threshold / Q000502:physiology*
D019343:Citric Acid; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013395:Sucrose; D010670:Phenylthiourea; D011803:Quinine; D012970:Sodium Glutamate