Do you have a strong bitter taste? You may be more resistant to COVID-19. Here is the reason

If you are extremely sensitive to bitter tastes, your resistance to COVID-19 may be greater, and if you become infected with the coronavirus, your risk of becoming severely severely reduced. This unusual relationship is suggested by the studies of doctors from Louisiana. How to explain it and what exactly did the research show? Get to know the details.

1. The perception of tastes is very much dependent on our genes
2. Scientists have discovered that high sensitivity to bitter tastes may be associated with greater resistance to COVID-19 and a milder disease course
3. Among the respondents, approx. 2 thousand people, divided into three groups according to the intensity of taste sensation, the most sensitive group had the least SARS-CoV-2 infections
4. How can this relationship be explained? We write in the article
5. More information can be found on the Onet homepage.

Greater resistance to COVID-19 and bitterness – first discoveries

It all started when a team of doctors led by Henry Barnham of the Sinus and Nasal Specialists of Louisiana (a facility that specializes in the treatment of nasal and sinus diseases) decided to investigate one of the hallmarks of COVID-19 – loss of smell and taste. Recall that SARS-CoV-2 patients suffering from the loss of taste really cannot tell the difference between bitter and sweet. A fundamental point has also been taken into account, namely that how we perceive tastes is very much dependent on our genes.

Researchers focused on the bitter taste – its perception is associated with different variants of T2R38 (bitter taste receptor). Some are responsible for the extremely intense feeling of bitterness. The persons concerned are classified as super-masters or super-fans – people whose taste ability is higher than average. Moreover, it is known that bitter taste receptors are present not only in the oral cavity but also in the respiratory tract.

Returning to the study that gave rise to a fascinating discovery – 100 patients who were confirmed to have the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus were subjected to a taste test. These were litmus test strips treated with phenylthiocarbamide, thiourea or sodium benzoate. Depending on the mutation of said gene, the first two substances may taste either extremely bitter or have no taste, while sodium benzoate may taste sweet, salty, sour, bitter or not at all. None of the respondents turned out to be a superaster. For scientists, this was a sufficient justification for further, extended research.

Sensitivity to taste associated with the severity of COVID-19

They were conducted between July 1 and September 30, 2020. They were attended by 1 adult patients from Baton Rouge, Louisiana – both outpatient and inpatient. These people were subjected to the same taste test as before. In this way, the researchers wanted to determine whether the test person might possess the “super-master” variant of the bitterness receptor gene.

Out of almost 2 thousand participants, 508 people (26,3%) were supertasters, 917 (47,4%) were tasters, and 510 people (26,4%) showed a lower than average feeling of bitterness. The PCR test confirmed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in a total of 266 study participants (13,7%). 55 (20,7%) required hospitalization.

Among the tasting group, COVID-19 was confirmed in 104 patients (39,1%). The greatest number of infections was identified among the people with the lowest bitter taste. Although they constituted only 26,4 percent. of the entire group of respondents, in 55,3 percent. of them, i.e. 147 people, confirmed to be infected with coronavirus.

And the most interesting thing, among COVID-19 supertasters, only 5,6% were confirmed. people (15 patients).

Moreover, the study suggests that taste sensitivity is also associated with the severity of COVID-19. 55 of the 266 infected patients had to be hospitalized; including 47 from the group with the lowest taste perception. It’s worth noting that none of the patients reported loss of taste as a symptom of coronavirus infection, but roughly half experienced loss of smell.

Feeling of bitterness and resistance to COVID-19. How do you explain that?

How to explain the relationship between the variants of the T2R38 gene and lower susceptibility to COVID-19 or a milder course of the disease? Doctors believe this may have something to do with the way that activation of bitter-taste receptor genes triggers an immune response. It is mainly about the production of nitric oxide by calcium ions – a compound that kills invading pathogens. It is possible that calcium ions may also mobilize certain respiratory cells to release antimicrobial compounds. “Bitter taste receptors appear to play a key role in innate immunity against pathogens in the upper respiratory tract” – scientists wrote in an article published in the medical monthly “JAMA Network Open”.

Scientists emphasize that more research is needed in this area. The more that the current works have their limitations. The researchers point out that supertasters were identified only on the basis of observable characteristics.

Nevertheless, following this path offers opportunities for the development of safe, cost-effective and accurate screening tools to assess the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the expected clinical course of the disease.

You may be interested in:

1. What happens to children who have had COVID-19? A new study on PIMS
2. Could more coronaviruses threaten people? Scientists concerned
3. Why does the arm hurt after the COVID-19 vaccine? This is the most common post-vaccination reaction

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