There is a good reason why kale evokes such strong feelings in different people.

　　为什么有些人会对甘蓝菜有着如此强烈的感觉?有一个理由可以很好地解释这一点。

　　What is harshly bitter to some 25% of the world -- often classified as 'supertasters' -- is barely bitter to about another third. The rest of us fall somewhere in between. Such stark differences in how we perceive taste are programmed into our DNA.

　　味觉超常者喜恶食物一览让世界上25%的人──经常也被归类为“味觉超常者”──感到苦涩难耐的东西对另外三分之一的人而言只能勉强称得上是苦，而其他人的味觉感受则介于二者之间。之所以会出现如此截然不同的情况，是因为我们对味道如何进行感知的程序被编写在了我们的DNA当中。

　　'Supertasters in general get everything more intense,' says Linda Bartoshuk, a professor with the University of Florida Center for Smell and Taste and a pioneer in the study of supertasting. 'When you put it all together we say that supertasters live in a neon food world compared to the pastel food world' everyone else lives in, she says.

　　佛罗里达大学(University of Florida)嗅觉和味觉中心(Center for Smell and Taste)教授、味觉超常研究的先驱人物琳达•巴托斯萨克(Linda Bartoshuk)说，“一般而言，味觉超常的人尝到的每一种味道都比别人更浓烈。总括起来可以这样形容，味觉超常的人生活在一个霓虹闪烁的食品世界中，相较而言”，其他所有人则生活在“一个色彩淡柔的食物世界里”。

　　A relatively high proportion of professional chefs are supertasters, Dr. Bartoshuk says. Also, supertasting abilities are more common in women than men, and in Asians and African-Americans than Caucasians. In the U.S., roughly 15% of people are supertasters, she estimates.

　　巴托斯萨克博士说，专业大厨中味觉超常的人占了相当高的比例。除此之外，与男性相比，味觉超常的这种能力在女性身上更为常见，而亚洲人和非洲裔美国人中味觉超常的人又比白种人要多。她估计，在美国，大约有15%的人是味觉超常人士。

　　Recent research has uncovered some surprising health consequences of being a supertaster. People who are supertasters have a heightened risk for developing colon cancer, possibly because they tend to avoid eating vegetables, one study found. Another found they have a tendency to like salty food, which may block bitter tastes.

　　最近的研究已经揭示了味觉超常会带来一些令人惊讶的健康方面的影响。一项研究发现，味觉超常人群结肠癌发病风险更高，这可能是因为他们往往不愿进食蔬菜。另一项研究表明，他们有爱吃咸味食物的倾向，咸味也许可以掩盖住苦味。

　　On the positive side, supertasters tend to be leaner than the general population, possibly because they often find fatty foods distasteful. And a study last year showed that supertasters were better able to fend off some bacterial sinus infections than people who have normal tasting abilities, perhaps because of a protective ability afforded by the supertaster gene.

　　从好的一面看，味觉超常者往往比一般人更清瘦，这可能是因为他们经常会觉得高脂食物口感不佳、令人反胃。去年的一项研究表明，与味觉能力平平的普通人相比，味觉超常者能更好地抵御鼻窦细菌感染，这可能是因为他们的超级味觉基因具有防护能力。

　　Supertasters typically have a higher density of fungiform papillae, mushroom-shaped projections on the tongue that contain taste buds. Some experts say one way to tell if a person is a supertaster is to count the number of papillae in a small area after dying the tongue with food coloring, a test that can be done at home. Another common test, which can be purchased online, is to give people a particularly bitter chemical such as PROP or PTC, which are similar to a compound found in many dark-green vegetables. Most people find PROP and PTC bitter, but not unbearable, while others don't taste it at all. For supertasters, the experience is often nauseating.

　　一般而言，味觉超常者的菌状乳头密度更高。菌状乳头分布在舌头上，呈蘑菇状，内有味蕾。一些专家说，判定一个人是不是味觉超常者的一个方法是：先将舌头染上食用色素、然后在一个小范围内数一数有多少个乳头。这个试验在家就可以做。另一种常见的测验物可以在网上买到，是让人尝起来感觉特别苦的化学物质，如丙硫氧嘧啶或苯硫口，它们与许多深绿色蔬菜中发现的一种化合物相似。多数人觉得丙硫氧嘧啶和苯硫口是苦的，但不至于苦涩难耐，而另一些人却根本尝不出它们的苦味。但对于味觉超常者而言，这种味道常常是令人作呕的。

　　'It was the most disgusting taste I've ever experienced,' says Rachel Antenucci, a 22-year-old food science graduate student at Pennsylvania State University who was diagnosed as a supertaster this summer. Foods that turn her off include Starbucks dark roast coffee, radishes and most hard liquors, she says. But she loves ice cream and dark chocolate, unlike many supertasters who usually avoid such foods.

　　宾夕法尼亚州立大学(Pennsylvania State University)食品科学专业研究生、22岁的瑞秋•安特努奇(Rachel Antenucci)说：“这是我尝过的最恶心的味道。”今天夏天，安特努奇被诊断为味觉超常者。她还说，有些食物是她避之唯恐不及的，包括星巴克(Starbucks)深度烘焙咖啡、小萝卜和大多数烈酒。但安特努奇爱吃冰淇淋和黑巧克力，这一点与许多味觉超常者不同，他们一般会对此类食物敬而远之。

　　Scientists have identified some of the genes associated with tasting ability. For example, some two dozen genes are linked with different types of bitterness. One theory is that sensitivity to bitter flavor could have evolved as a protective mechanism against poisonous plants.

　　科学家们已经确认了一些与味觉能力相关的基因。比如，有二十几个基因与不同类型的苦味相关联。还有这样一个理论：对苦这种味道的敏感性可能已进化成抵御有毒植物的保护机制。

　　Taste buds on the tongue have receptors that tell us if a food is sweet or sour or some other taste. Recent research is finding that taste receptors are found all over the body, including in the gut, nose, and brain, says Danielle Reed, a member at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. It isn't clear what role these receptors play in the body, but scientists suggest they might have a protective function, as they do in the mouth.

　　舌头上味蕾的受体会告知我们食物是甜的、酸的还是其他什么味道。费城莫奈尔化学感知中心(Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia)的成员丹尼尔•里德(Danielle Reed)称，最近的研究发现，味觉受体遍布人的全身，包括肠道、鼻子和大脑中都有。目前还不清楚它们在体内起着什么样的作用，但科学家指出，它们可能具有一种防护功能，就像人们嘴里的那些受体一样。

　　For example, a recent study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the Monell Center showed that supertasters were better able to fend off bacterial sinus infections because of a particular bitter-taste receptor in their nose. The study, published last year in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, involved laboratory work with sinus tissue samples from 56 people.

　　比如，宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)与费城莫奈尔化学感知中心的科研人员近来的一项研究表明，味觉超常的人之所以能更好地抵抗鼻窦细菌传染的侵袭，是因为在他们的鼻子里有一种特殊的苦味受体。该研究对56个人的鼻窦组织进行取样并做了相关实验，研究成果于去年发表在《临床研究杂志》(Journal of Clinical Investigation)上。

　　'Even in the preliminary data we've generated. . .it looks like the ability to taste or not taste this [bitter compound] is going to be fairly instrumental in upper respiratory disease,' says Noam Cohen, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a surgeon at Philadelphia VA Medical Center, who co-authored the study with Dr. Reed.

　　与里德合着了这项研究报告的作者、宾夕法尼亚大学副教授、费城VA医学中心(Philadelphia VA Medical Center)外科医生诺姆•科恩(Noam Cohen)说：“即使仅仅是通过我们得出的初始数据便能得出一个结论……是否能尝出这种(苦味化合物)的能力对于上呼吸道疾病而言似乎会非常有帮助。”

　　Dr. Cohen says he is currently investigating the role of taste receptors found in the lungs. 'We think the bitter receptors over time were developed to protect us against bacteria,' he says. 'We may find them anywhere the body is working to protect us from bacteria.'

　　科恩博士说，他目前正在调查研究那些在肺中发现的受体的作用。他说：“我们认为，经过一段时间以后，这种苦味受体将可以得到开发用以保护我们免受细菌的侵害。我们可能会在那些为抵抗细菌而运作的身体部位中找到它们。”

　　Supertasters may face some increased health risks because they often eat fewer dark-green vegetables, which can be bitter. A 2005 study in the journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences found that the risk for developing colon cancer -- measured by number of polyps -- was directly proportional to the ability to taste bitter, particularly PROP, the chemical compound similar to that found in cabbage. The study tested the association between PROP and the number of colonic polyps, a measure of colon cancer risk, in 251 men.

　　味觉超常者可能面临着某些超乎常人的健康风险，因为深绿色蔬菜会带有苦味，所以他们往往吃得很少。2005年发表在《消化道疾病与科学》(Digestive Diseases and Sciences)杂志上的一篇研究论文指出，罹患结肠癌的风险──通过测算息肉的数量得出──与尝出苦味的能力成正比，尤其是如果能尝出丙硫氧嘧啶的味道，这种物质与卷心菜中发现的一种化合物相似。该研究测试了丙硫氧嘧啶与251名男子体内结肠息肉数量的关系，计算结肠息肉数量是一种测算结肠癌风险的方法。

　　Beverly Tepper, a professor of food science at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, N.J., found in a study that women who don't taste PROP tend to be heavier than those who are supertasters. The 2011 study, published in the journal Appetite, found that among 14 nontasters and 18 supertasters -- all lean, young women -- the nontaster women consumed more calories in a buffet setting. In a similar study presented at a conference last year, 75 lean women ate buffet meals for several days in a lab. Women classified as medium tasters or nontasters consumed more calories, less protein and marginally more fat than the supertasters.

　　罗格斯大学新布朗斯维克分校(Rutgers University, in New Brunswick)的食品科学教授贝弗利•泰珀(Beverly Tepper)在2011年的一项研究中发现，那些不能尝出丙硫氧嘧啶的女性往往比那些味觉超常者更重些。这项研究的论文发表在《食欲》(Appetite)期刊上。该研究发现，在14名味盲者和18名味觉超常人中──所有参与者都是身材清瘦的年轻女性──前者在吃自助餐时摄取的卡路里更多。在去年的一次会议上公布了成果的一项类似研究是让75名清瘦的女性好几天都在一个实验室内吃自助餐。结果发现，与味觉超常者相比，那些被归为味盲或味觉正常的人摄取的卡路里更多，蛋白质更少，脂肪则稍稍多一点儿。

　　'Some people may be considered fussy eaters and to a certain extent. . .it reflects their genetics,' says Dr. Tepper.

　　泰珀博士说：“有些人可能被认为是挑食的人……其实这只在某种程度上反映了他们的基因。”

　　Supertasters sometimes get intense pleasure from foods. Karen Manning, 58, of Cincinnati, didn't know she was a supertaster. But when she worked in marketing for Jimmy Dean, the sausage and breakfast-sandwich maker, the food scientists were constantly asking her to participate in tastings. 'You can taste things in products that nobody else can,' she recalls being told.

　　味觉超常者有时会从食物中获得强烈的快感。来自辛辛那提、58岁的凯伦•曼宁(Karen Manning)以前并不知道自己的味觉超常，但当她在香肠与早餐三明治制造商吉米迪安公司(Jimmy Dean)的市场部工作时，那里的食品科学家常常要求曼宁参与品尝的工作。她回忆别人当时对她的评价是：“你能尝出别人尝不到的味道。”

　　Ms. Manning, who now owns an advertising-and-consulting firm, says she can distinguish between different types of pepper burn -- black versus red -- and different seasonings. She dislikes really sweet or bitter foods and the slimy texture of fat on meat. And she's learned to work around some tastes: She will roast Brussels sprouts, for example, and sprinkle sugar on them to make them palatable.

　　目前拥有一家广告咨询公司的曼宁称，她能区分出不同种类的胡椒烧焦的味道──黑胡椒与红胡椒──还有不同的调味品。曼宁不喜欢特别甜或特别苦的食物，也不喜欢肉类脂肪的油腻口感。她学会了对一些味道进行变通处理，比如，她会把球芽甘蓝烤一烤再吃，并在上面撒些糖，这样让它们吃起来口感更佳。

　　Scientists say research to identify more taste receptors and their associated genes could help dietitians tailor advice to different palates. 'I think we're close to the point where, instead of a dietitian saying, 'Eat less fat, eat more fruits and vegetables,' they could figure out what foods you do or don't like with a survey or genetic test,' says John Hayes, a professor of food science at Penn State and lead author of a 2010 study showing supertasters' preference for salt. 'They could say, 'You know, I want you to eat more fruits and vegetables but you're going to find it hard to eat kale or Brussels sprouts. Maybe you should try sweet potatoes and squash instead.' '

　　科学家称，确认更多味觉受体和受体相关基因的研究能帮助营养师替不同口味的人量身定制进餐建议。2010年的一项研究发现超级味觉者偏爱咸食，该研究论文的首席作者、宾夕法尼亚州立大学食品科学教授约翰•海斯(John Hayes)说：“我认为我们快要达到这样的程度了：营养师们不再是简单地告诉你‘少吃肉，多吃蔬菜和水果’。通过调查或基因测试，他们能弄清你爱吃什么不爱吃什么。他们会这样说，‘我希望你能吃更多的水果和蔬菜，但由于你会觉得甘蓝菜和球芽甘蓝难以下咽，也许你可以试一试甘薯和南瓜。’”