Some People Do Not Taste Salt Like Others Low-salt foods may be harderfor some people to like than others, according to a study by a Penn StateCollege of Agricultural Sciences food scientist. The research indicates thatgenetic factors influ-ence some of the difference in the levels of salt we liketo eat. Those conclusions areimportant because recent, well-publicized efforts to reduce the salt content infood have left many people struggling to accept fare that simply does not tasteas good to them as it does to others, pointed out John Hayes, assistantprofessor of food science, who was lead investigator on the study. Diets high in salt canincrease the risk of high blood pressure and stroke. That is why public healthexperts and food companies are working together on ways to help consumers lowersalt intake through foods that are enjoyable to eat. This study increasesunderstanding of salt preference and con-sumption. The research involved 87carefully screened participants who sampled salty foods such as soup and chips,on multiple occasions, spread out over weeks. Test subjects were 45 men and 42women, re-portedly healthy, ranging in age from 20 t0 40 years. The sample wascomposed of individuals who were not actively modifying their dietary intakeand did not smoke cigarettes. They rated the intensity of taste on a commonly used scientific scale,ranging from barely detectable to strongest sensation of any kind. "Most of us like thetaste of salt. However, some individuals eat more salt, both because they likethe taste of saltiness more, and also because it is needed to block otherunpleasant tastes in food. " said Hayes. "Supertasters, people whoexperience tastes more intensely, consume more salt than do nontasters. Snackfoods have saltiness as. their primary flavor, and at least for these foods,more is better, so the supertasters seem to like them more. " However, supertasters alsoneed higher levels of salt to block unpleasant bitter tastes in foods such ascheese, Hayes noted. "For example, cheese is a wonderful blend of dairyflavors from fermen- ted milk, but also bitter tastes from ripening that areblocked by salt," he said. "A supertaster finds low-salt cheeseunpleasant because the bitterness is too pronounced. " Hayes cited research donemore than 75 years ago by a chemist named Fox and a geneticist named Blakeslee,showing that individuals differ in their ability to taste certain chemicals. Asa result, Hayes explained, we know that a wide range in taste acuity exists,and this variation is as normal as varia- tions in eye and hair color. "Some people, calledsupertasters, describe bitter compounds as being extremely bitter, whileothers, called nontasters, find these same bitter compounds to be tasteless oronly weakly bitter. " he said. "Response to bitter compounds is oneof many ways to identify biological differences in food preference becausesupertast-ing is not limited to bitterness. " John Hayes points out in a recent study that______