科学60秒:食无苦, 饭无忧
来源：沪江听写酷
2011-07-31 10:00
A food additive that blocks our bitter taste receptors could make foods like broccoli more palatable. Karen Hopkin reports
They say you should take the bitter with the sweet. But if you’re not a big fan of bitter, chemists have just the [---1---] for you. Oh, you’ll still have to take the bitter. But you won’t have to taste it. Because scientists have [---2---] a new and improved “bitter blocker.” They [---3---] at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Our taste buds allow us to detect sweet and sour, salty and savory, and, of course, bitter. Of that set of taste sensations, bitterness, most agree, is the most disagreeable. And we can thank (or blame) evolution. We likely find bitter bad because many toxic substances are bitter. So an [---4---] to bitter may have helped our ancestors survive.
Problem is, plenty of healthful foods are bitter, too. Take broccoli and kale. (Please.) The standard solution, drowning out the bitter with butter, sort of [---5---] the veggies’ health food status.
Rather than getting rid of the bitter, chemists came up with a compound that simply blocks our receptors for the bitter molecules, and our ability to taste them. So you may not need that spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. Or the broccoli.
【视听版科学小组荣誉出品】
They say you should take the bitter with the sweet. But if you’re not a big fan of bitter, chemists have just the [---1---] for you. Oh, you’ll still have to take the bitter. But you won’t have to taste it. Because scientists have [---2---] a new and improved “bitter blocker.” They [---3---] at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Our taste buds allow us to detect sweet and sour, salty and savory, and, of course, bitter. Of that set of taste sensations, bitterness, most agree, is the most disagreeable. And we can thank (or blame) evolution. We likely find bitter bad because many toxic substances are bitter. So an [---4---] to bitter may have helped our ancestors survive.
Problem is, plenty of healthful foods are bitter, too. Take broccoli and kale. (Please.) The standard solution, drowning out the bitter with butter, sort of [---5---] the veggies’ health food status.
Rather than getting rid of the bitter, chemists came up with a compound that simply blocks our receptors for the bitter molecules, and our ability to taste them. So you may not need that spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. Or the broccoli.
【视听版科学小组荣誉出品】
loophole
concocted
touted their triumph
aversion
cancels out
食无苦, 饭无忧
人们都说, 吃完苦的再吃点甜的. 不过, 如果你讨厌吃苦的话,化学家们正好有办法可以帮你. 当然, 苦你还是要吃, 只是你却尝不出苦的味道. 因为科学家们捣鼓出一种新的改良版"食无苦", 并在美国化学学会全国会议上成功推出.
我们的味蕾可以识别出酸甜味和咸香味, 当然, 还有所有味觉中公认最不受欢迎的苦味. 我们也许应该感谢(亦或是归咎于)这种人类的进化, 或许因为很多有毒物质是苦的, 所以才觉得苦味有害. 也许正因为对苦味的反感而我们的祖先得以存活下来.
问题又来了, 许多对健康有益的食物, 比如说花椰菜和甘蓝也是苦的. (音乐.) 一般的解决方案就是用黄油盖过其苦味,当然多多少少也会影响到蔬菜的营养成分了.
科学家们认为, 与其去掉苦味, 不如研发一种化合物让我们与苦味隔绝,尝不到苦味. 这样一来, 你就不需要用满勺的糖来帮你咽下苦药了.
