bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/05/11/4380014-being-a-supertaster-is-no-piece-of-cake
The article above is about the 25% of the population that have a dramatically increased number of taste buds on their tongues. These people are known as supertasters. Now, I, personally, am not a supertaster, but I'm pretty glad of that fact. Why? Well, because it seems that being a supertaster isn't really that super. According to the article above, supertasters have a high sensitivity to intense flavors because of the increased number of taste buds they have. It's important to note here that when I say intense flavors I don't mean that really spicy Chinese or Mexican food you had the other day, I mean pretty much anything that isn't considered bland. In fact, if a supertaster had what you considered to be really spicy, they would probably literally feel like their mouth was on fire. The increased number of taste buds on their tongue leads to an increase in the amount of sensory information that they can obtain, which is why they can detect things in food that the other 75% of the population can't. Eating things that most people love like coffee, alcohol, strawberries, and most fatty foods are, to a supertaster, unbearable. The adaptive advantage to being a supertaster would only seem to be relevant if we were having a problem with a very bitter poison being put into our McDonald's hamburgers, but I'm guessing that won't be a problem anytime soon. So, it seems like being a supertaster isn't really all that 'super'.
