Broccoli, as it is known, are certainly not among children's favorite foods. But what is the reason for such rejection? Australian researchers have found a new explanation. Known collectively as brassicas, they are very rich in nutrients, but some of their components that make them so healthy, also give them a distinctive bitter taste. Children are much more sensitive than adults to bitter tastes, but this is not the only reason, according to a study by sensory scientist Damian Frank of the University of Sydney and colleagues from the national scientific body Csiro, published in the Agricultural and Food Chemistry journal.
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The aroma, which plays an important role in the perception of taste, is even more important. Brassicas indeed contain a compound called S-methyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide, which contributes to their characteristic smell. When this compound mixes with the saliva of some people, it instantly breaks down due to enzymes, producing a sudden discharge of foul-smelling gas in the mouth: the powerful dimethyl trisulfide, 'the gas associated with the smell of flatulence and rotting animals', writes the scholar. The amount of such gas produced depends on colonies of bacteria living in the mouth.
And the more gas is produced, the more likely the child is to reject those vegetables. To understand why some children and not others detest brassicas, the researchers collected saliva samples from 98 children between six and eight years old, and one of their parents. They mixed the saliva in a test tube with cauliflower powder and analyzed the gas production in each sample. While some children and their parents produced high levels of gas, other pairs of children-parents produced very little. And other research suggests that the longer people live together, the closer their respective microbial communities become.