The Bitter Blocker

Do your kids refuse to take their cold medicine? Not a fan of the bitter aftertaste of many artificially sweetened diet drinks? Help is on the way in the form of a newly discovered compound that can block the ability of taste buds to register bitter flavors. Once it hits the market the GIV3616 compound could be added to many bitter foods, beverages, and medicines to mask their unpleasant flavor. Food manufacturers are becoming increasingly interested in instead using chemicals that fundamentally alter the perception of taste as consumers rapidly abandon foods that rely on sugar, salt, and fat to improve their flavor profile. The compound has the exciting potential to help those with a heightened sensitivity to bitterness increase the variety of foods they consume, encourage those sensitive to calorie-free sweeteners such sucralose to take the plunge and go sugar-free, and allow weary mothers to administer cough medicine drama-free. Sounds promising to us! [MSNBC]