Genes Make It Hard For Some to Give Up Salt. Is it true?

As hard as you may try to eat less salt, low-sodium foods can taste awful -- especially, suggests a new study, if you have a genetic predisposition to dislike them.
People who are particularly sensitive to bitter flavors, the study found, tend to eat more salt and have a harder time eating less of it, because salt masks bitterness. As experts urge Americans to cut their intake by more than half to 2,300 milligrams (about a teaspoon) of sodium a day or less, insights like these might help identify the people who will need the most help.
Despite evidence that cutting down on salt could improve heart health and save 100,000 American lives each year, our consumption has only crept upward.
"Not everyone lives in the same taste world," said John Hayes, a biophysiologist at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. "With all of these efforts to reduce sodium, some people are going to have a much harder time with that."
About 25 percent of people experience flavors more vibrantly than everyone else, thanks to differences in the tiny bumps that house taste buds on our tongues. The gastronomic world is more extreme to these people, known as supertasters. Fats taste creamier. Sugar tastes sweeter. Chilies taste spicier. Even green, leafy vegetables taste more bitter.
Hayes and colleagues expected that supertasters would also taste salt more intensely, and that in turn, they would need less of it to get the same salty satisfaction as someone with a more average palate. But when the researchers asked 87 healthy men and women to keep detailed food diaries for five days, they were surprised to find that supertasters consumed the most sodium throughout the week.
In follow-up taste tests, the scientists also report today in the journal Physiology & Behavior that supertasters were more likely to notice the difference between varying sodium levels in a range of foods including soy sauce, potato chips and chicken broth. They were also generally more turned off by low-sodium products, like cheese and pretzels.
Besides adding saltiness, sodium blocks bitterness and balances flavors and textures in everything from bread to yogurt drinks, which helps explain why more than 80 percent of the sodium we eat is in processed foods and restaurant meals. But even as manufacturers work to lower sodium levels in their products, subtle differences in salt sensitivity might end up affecting the way we eat.
"How foods taste affects how much you like it," Hayes said. "How much you like it affects how much you eat. And how much you eat affects your health.
Still, even if your genes make you a supertaster, you are not forever doomed to a high-sodium diet and a stressed heart. Studies show that experiences play a large part in determining which foods people like, said Gary Beauchamp, director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. And anyone can learn to prefer less salt.
The new work suggests that some people might simply need to find different ways to avoid and mask the bitter flavors that are so sensitive to.
"This is a really important topic because this is a major public health problem," Beauchamp said. "The more we understand about the basis for why people consume excess salt, the better our chances of finding ways to reduce it."
- By Swe Mar Tun @ Sweety