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Coffee or tea? The answer might be in your genes
喝咖啡還是喝茶？答案也許藏在你的基因裡

Do you prefer coffee or tea? The answer to that question might in part be down to your genes, research suggests.
咖啡和茶，你更偏愛哪一樣呢？研究表明，這個問題的答案可能有部分取決於你的基因。

Scientists say a genetic predisposition to perceiving the bitterness of particular substances appears to nudge us towards one beverage or the other.
科學家表示，一種遺傳傾向似乎會讓我們選擇一種飲品或者是別的飲品，這種傾向能感知某些特定物質的苦味。

The study, published in theScientific Reports journal, involved two sets of data. The first was a large twin study which showed that, at least in those of European ancestry, particular genetic variants are linked to the strength of perception of different tastes: one specific variant was associated with slightly higher ratings of bitterness for caffeine, another to greater bitterness for quinine and a third to greater bitterness for a drug known as propylthiouracil, or prop.
這項研究公開在《科學報告》期刊上，其中包含了兩組資料。第一組資料是一項大型的雙胞胎研究，這項研究表明，至少在歐洲血統的雙胞胎研究中，某些特定的基因變異跟不同味覺的感知強度有關聯：一種特定的變異跟稍高的咖啡因苦味評級有關，另一種變異與較高的奎寧苦味相關，而第三種變異與一種藥物較高的苦味相關，這種藥物叫做丙基硫氧嘧啶，或稱 prop。

The team found people with a greater genetic predisposition to perceiving the bitterness of caffeine drank a little more coffee, but an increased perception of the bitterness of quinine and prop were linked to a small reduction in coffee drinking.
研究團隊發現，對感知咖啡因苦味遺傳傾向更強的人群喝咖啡略多，然而，對奎寧和丙基硫氧嘧啶的苦味感知更強的人群，他們的咖啡飲用量會輕微減少。

“While the effect of perception on your daily coffee intake might be relatively small—only a 0.15 cup per day increase—from a normal caffeine taster to a strong caffeine taster, it actually makes you 20% more likely to become a heavy drinker—drinking more than four cups per day,” said Jue Sheng Ong，first author of the research from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia.
“雖然感知對你每天咖啡攝入量的影響可能相對較小——從一個正常的咖啡因品嚐者到一個重度咖啡因品嚐者，你只要每天多攝入 0.15 杯咖啡，但它實際上讓你成為重度飲者的可能性增加了 20%——重度飲者每天喝的咖啡超過 4 杯。”澳洲昆士蘭醫學研究院的第一作者 Jue Sheng Ong 如是說。

“Our taste genes partially play a role in how much coffee, tea or alcohol we drink,” he said. “The preference towards tea can be seen as a consequence of abstaining from coffee, because our genes might have made coffee a little too bitter for our palates to handle.”
“我們的味覺基因在某種程度上影響著我們對咖啡、茶和酒的攝入量。”他說道，“你對茶的偏好可以被看作是放棄喝咖啡的結果，因為我們的基因可能已經讓咖啡變得有點兒太苦，以至於我們的味覺難以承受。”

—————文章來源 / 衛報

重點詞彙
be down to
是……的責任；取決於……；僅剩……

• I’m down to my last dollar.
• It’s down to you to check the door.

predisposition/ˌpriːdɪspəˈzɪʃn/
n. 傾向；稟性

nudge/nʌdʒ/
v. （朝某方向）輕推，漸漸推動

• He nudged me.

beverage/ˈbevərɪdʒ/
n. 飲料；飲品

• Drinks are on me！

twin study
雙胞胎研究

ancestry/ˈænsestri/
n. 世系；血統

• He has Scottish ancestry.

variant/ˈveriənt/
n. 變異；變體；變形

• Table tennis is a variant of tennis.

quinine/ˈkwaɪnaɪn/

• n. 奎寧，金雞納霜（過去用於治療瘧疾）

propylthiouracil/‘proʊpɪlθaɪoʊ’jʊræsɪl/
n. 丙基硫氧嘧啶

intake/ˈɪnteɪk/
n. 攝取量；吸入量

• the daily intake of salt
• the annual student intake

abstain/əbˈsteɪn/
v. 戒絕；抑制；放棄

• abstain from alcohol/sex/drugs

palate/ˈpælət/
n. 味覺；品嚐力

• He has a palate for wine.