Good taste in men linked to colon risks. (Biology).Men with exceptionally good taste may pay for it in health risks. About 25 percent of people have extra taste buds taste buds taste npl → Geschmacksknospen pl on their tongues. They live in "a neon taste world" instead of a "pastel" one, as Yale University Yale University, at New Haven, Conn.; coeducational. Chartered as a collegiate school for men in 1701 largely as a result of the efforts of James Pierpont, it opened at Killingworth (now Clinton) in 1702, moved (1707) to Saybrook (now Old Saybrook), and in 1716 was researcher Linda Bartoshuk puts it (SN: 7/5/97, p. 24). There may be a nasty consequence to the benefit. Among men over 65, intense tasters have significantly more colon polyps than other tasters, according to Bartoshuk and Marc Basson of Wayne State University Wayne State University, at Detroit, Mich.; state supported; coeducational; established 1956 as a successor to Wayne Univ. (formed 1934 by a merger of five city colleges). in Detroit. Extra polyps Polyps A tumor with a small flap that attaches itself to the wall of various vascular organs such as the nose, uterus and rectum. Polyps bleed easily, and if they are suspected to be cancerous they should be surgically removed. suggest an extra risk of colon cancer colon cancer, cancer of any part of the colon (often called the large intestine). Colon cancer is the second most common cancer diagnosed in the United States. . Bartoshuk speculates that sensitive tongues lead these men astray in food choices. Supertasters often cringe at intense vegetable flavors, and the supertasting seniors eat fewer vegetables than do their counterparts with normal taste sensitivity. The supertasters also tended to weigh more. Low-vegetable diets and extra weight both raise the risk of colon cancer. Ear infections may exacerbate this cancer risk. The nerves from the tongue pass through the ear, and ear infections distort neural mechanisms so that the tongue increases its sensitivity to fat. Bartoshuk has found that among men with a history of ear infections, supertasters are especially likely to be very overweight.--S.M. |
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