Many people shy away from bitter vegetables, but give broccoli a real shot. Not only will it grow on you, but repeated exposure actually alters their taste, according to recent research. Far from a mere culinary hack, this shift stems from specific saliva proteins that influence taste perception and nutritional signals.
Saliva is a sophisticated fluid containing around 1,000 distinct proteins. Scientists are still mapping them all, but every bite dissolves in saliva first, interacting with taste receptors—and these proteins can modulate flavors before detection.
“What you eat creates the signature in your salivary proteome, and those proteins modulate your sense of taste,” says the researcher. “We have shown in previous work that changing your diet changes which proteins are in your saliva. Now we show that the proteins in your saliva change your taste.”
"If we can convince people to try broccoli, greens and bitter foods, they should know that they taste better with repeated exposure if they regulate these proteins," says the researcher.
How much repeated exposure? Give me a number.
“Our data does not provide a number, such as 12 servings of broccoli, for people who avoid these foods because of their bitterness, but would like to include them in their diet, they should know that their taste will eventually change.”
