Coffee or tea? The answer might be in your genes

喝咖啡还是喝茶？答案也许藏在你的基因里

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说到日常饮品，你一定会想到茶和咖啡：茶有上千年历史，茶道文化不仅是一种礼仪现象，更是一种精神享受；咖啡的历史虽然仅有几百年，但它在现代年轻人中越来越流行，咖啡文化不仅体现了浪漫热情，还有简洁随意。那么，茶和咖啡，你更中意哪一种呢？先不急着回答，今天一篇英国《卫报》的新闻，它从科学角度为我们探讨了这个话题，一起来看看吧！

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，你更偏爱哪一样呢？研究表明，这个问题的答案可能有部分取决于你的基因。

Scientists say a genetic predisposition to perceiving the bitterness of particular substances appears to nudge us towards one beverage or the other.

科学家表示，一种遗传倾向似乎会让我们选择一种饮品或者是别的饮品，这种倾向能感知某些特定物质的苦味。

The study, published in the Scientific 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.

这项研究公开在《科学报告》期刊上，其中包含了两组数据。第一组数据是一项大型的双胞胎研究，这项研究表明，至少在欧洲血统的双胞胎研究中，某些特定的基因变异跟不同味觉的感知强度有关联：一种特定的变异跟稍高的咖啡因苦味评级有关，另一种变异与较高的奎宁苦味相关，而第三种变异与一种药物较高的苦味相关，这种药物叫做丙基硫氧嘧啶，或称 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.

研究团队发现，对感知咖啡因苦味遗传倾向更强的人群喝咖啡略多，然而，对奎宁和丙基硫氧嘧啶的苦味感知更强的人群，他们的咖啡饮用量会轻微减少。

“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.

“虽然感知对你每天咖啡摄入量的影响可能相对较小——从一个正常的咖啡因品尝者到一个重度咖啡因品尝者，你只要每天多摄入 0.15 杯咖啡，但它实际上让你成为重度饮者的可能性增加了 20%——重度饮者每天喝的咖啡超过 4 杯。”澳洲昆士兰医学研究院的第一作者 Jue Sheng Ong 如是说。

“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.”

“我们的味觉基因在某种程度上影响着我们对咖啡、茶和酒的摄入量。”他说道，“你对茶的偏好可以被看作是放弃喝咖啡的结果，因为我们的基因可能已经让咖啡变得有点儿太苦，以至于我们的味觉难以承受。”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/15/coffee-tea-drink-choice-study-linked-genes-how-we-perceive-bitterness

重点词汇

be down to

是......的责任；取决于......；仅剩......

e.g.

I'm down to my last dollar.

It's down to you to check the door.

predisposition/ˌpriːdɪspəˈzɪʃn/

n. 倾向；禀性

nudge/nʌdʒ/

v. （朝某方向）轻推，渐渐推动

e.g.

He nudged me.

beverage/ˈbevərɪdʒ/

n. 饮料；饮品

e.g.

Drinks are on me！

twin study

双胞胎研究

ancestry/ˈænsestri/

n. 世系；血统

e.g.

He has Scottish ancestry.

variant/ˈveriənt/

n. 变异；变体；变形

e.g.

Table tennis is a variant of tennis.

quinine/ˈkwaɪnaɪn/

n.  奎宁，金鸡纳霜（过去用于治疗疟疾）

propylthiouracil/'proʊpɪlθaɪoʊ'jʊræsɪl/

n. 丙基硫氧嘧啶

intake/ˈɪnteɪk/

n. 摄取量；吸入量

e.g.

the daily intake of salt

the annual student intake

abstain/əbˈsteɪn/

v. 戒绝；抑制；放弃

e.g.

abstain from alcohol/sex/drugs

palate/ˈpælət/

n. 味觉；品尝力

e.g.

He has a palate for wine.