A multidisciplinary research group specializing in pediatrics, genetics, and psychophysics, co-led by Julie A. Mennella, Ph.D., Principal Investigator at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, has identified wide variation in the sensory perception of a pediatric formulation of ibuprofen—some that were tied to genetic ancestry, and some that were not. These findings indicate that a range of factors come into play in determining how a medicine tastes to an individual.
"Sweetening medicines like ibuprofen is a delicate balance between having it taste good enough that kids take it, but bitter enough that should they get unguarded access to it, it's irritating enough that they stop drinking it and don't poison themselves," said Mennella., both ancestry-related and independent of it, that could predict if someone would find a medication irritating or pleasantly sweet.
Discovering both an ancestry-related link and non-ancestry-related genetic variation to taste and irritation perception shows that who perceives a medicine as palatable or not is a complicated picture and must consider a variety of factors.