Riffing on bitter receptors

Was looking through my 23ndme results, where I found that a certain change in my DNA could be associated with sneezing after eating dark chocolate. Turns out that this single change lies in the region of our DNA that is associated with two different bitter taste receptors, though not actually in the gene for either receptor.

Nevertheless, that observation led me to look into some of the recent data on the locations in the body where bitter receptors can be found, and lo and behold, we have bitter receptors in our nose…and sweet receptors, too!

According to Kook and colleagues, these receptors are not located on nerve endings or in fact apparently not on any specific type of cell, but on the skin-type cells lining the nose. When the receptors are activated by bitter compounds, the blood vessels around them constrict, so breathing was easier for their participants with allergic rhinitis. 

That said, if you do have allergic rhinitis, breathing in the vapors above your cup of tea probably won’t help you through direct activation of bitter receptors. The bitter flavonols such as epigallocatechin aren’t volatile at usual temperatures. They stay in the cup and aren’t part of the vapor.

BTW, I don’t sneeze when eating dark chocolate, even though I do carry the DNA change. Oh, and that little one sneezing is from moreguefile.com —couldn't resist!

J. H. Kook, H. K. Kim, H. J. Kim, K. W. Kim, T. H. Kim, K. R. Kang, D. J. Oh and S. H. Lee. Increased expression of bitter taste receptors in human allergic nasal mucosa and their contribution to the shrinkage of human nasal mucosa. Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2016 (46) 584–601.