Association of the ability to taste Phenylthiocarbamide with sex and smoking

The ability to taste Phenylthiocarbamide (PTC), has been long studied from genetics, epidemiologic and evolutionary point of view. This ability is associated with the ability of tasting other bitter substances which mostly are toxic. Natural selection is involved in the maintenance of the allelic frequency of PTC. Variation in the frequency of tasters and non-tasters could reflect the food preferences and dietary habits. Moreover, it can be a marker for diet-related diseases. The frequency of PTC taste sensitivity has been studied in many populations. However, no study in this regard has been reported in Iran. The aim of this research was to determine the frequency of PTC tasters and not-tasters in a population from Iran and also the association of sex and smoking with the ability to taste PTC. In this research, 175 individuals from Shiraz University or their families were examined regarding the ability to taste PTC. The frequency of T, and t alleles was 0.58 and 0.42, respectively. There was 82.3% taster versus 17.7% non-taster in this population. There was significant difference (p=0.007, OR=4.044) between male and female regarding the ability of tasting PTC. Moreover, there was more non-taster among smokers compared to non-smokers (p= 0.002, OR=0.278). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the frequency of PTC tasters in Iran. We have shown that, similar to studies from other populations, the frequency of PTC tasters is higher compared to non-tasters in our population. Moreover, there are more tasters among women and non-smokers compared to men and smokers, respectively. Considering that in Iran, women have an important role in providing food recepies, being more taster would help them probably to choose healtier ingredients for food recepies. In addition, investigating the connenctions between taste perception and smoking may help us to find a reliable indicator for smoking susceptibility. However, larger sample size and genetic tests are necessary to draw a more comperihensive conclusion.