文章大意:本文是一篇说明文,主要讲的是宾夕法尼亚州立大学农业科学学院一位食品科学家的一项研究表明,有些人可能比其他人更难喜欢低盐食品。研究表明,遗传因素影响了我们喜欢吃的盐含量的一些差异。
Low-salt foods may be harder for some people to like than for others, according to a study by a food scientist in Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences. The research indicates that genetic factors influence some of the difference in the levels of salt we like to eat.
“Those conclusions are important because recent, well-publicized efforts to reduce the salt content in food have left many people struggling to accept food that simply does not taste as good to them as it does to others,” pointed out John Hayes, assistant professor of food science, who was the lead investigator on the study.
Diets high in salt can increase the risk of high blood pressure and stroke. That is why public health experts and food companies are working together on ways to help consumers lower salt intake through foods that are enjoyable to eat. This study increases understanding of salt preference and consumption.
The research involved 87 carefully selected participants who sampled salty foods such as soup and chips, on multiple occasions, spread out over weeks. Test subjects were 45 men and 42 women, reportedly healthy, ranging in age from 20 to 40. The sample was composed of individuals who were not actively modifying (改变) their dietary intake and did not smoke cigarettes.
“Most of us like the taste of salt. However, some individuals eat more salt, both because they like the taste of saltiness more, and also because it is needed to block other unpleasant tastes in food,” said Hayes. “Supertasters, people who experience tastes more intensely, consume more salt than nontasters do. Snack foods have saltiness as their primary flavour, and at least for these foods, more is better, so the supertasters seem to like them more. ”
“However, supertasters also need higher levels of salt to block unpleasant bitter tastes in foods such as cheese,” Hayes noted. “For example, cheese is a wonderful blend of dairy flavours from fermented (发酵) milk and bitter tastes from ripening that are blocked by salt,” he said. “A supertaster finds low-salt cheese unpleasant because the bitterness is too obvious.”
Hayes cited research done more than 75 years ago by a chemist named Fox and a geneticist named Blakeslee, showing that individuals differ in their ability to taste certain chemicals. As a result, Hayes explained, “We know that a wide range in taste sensitivity exists, and this variation is as normal as those in eye and hair colour.”
“Some people, called supertasters, describe bitter compounds as being extremely bitter, while others, called nontasters, find these same bitter compounds to be tasteless or only weakly bitter,” he said. “Response to bitter compounds is one of many ways to identify biological differences in food preference because supertasting is not limited to bitterness.”
43. John Hayes’ study found that many people accept low-salt foods ________.
A.reluctantly | B.readily | C.positively | D.impatiently |
44. According to paragraph 4, which of the following is NOT mentioned about the research?
A.Selection of the subjects. | B.Content of the research. |
C.Numbers of the participants. | D.Identities of test subjects. |
45. According to the passage, supertasters ________.
A.like to share salty cheese with nontasters |
B.choose the taste of saltiness to block sweet tastes in food |
C.like snack foods more as saltiness is their primary flavor |
D.consume less salt because they don’t like intensive tastes |
46. When it comes to cheese, supertasters tend to ________.
A.prefer low-salt cheese as it is good for health |
B.like high-salt cheese as it has an intense bitter taste |
C.like the bitterness in cheese as well as the saltiness |
D.prefer high-salt cheese, which tastes less bitter |