Taste perception of bitter compounds in young and elderly persons: relation to lipophilicity of bitter compounds.

Threshold and suprathreshold sensitivities to 13 bitter compounds were determined for 16 young adults (mean age = 27.4 years) and 18 elderly persons (mean age = 81.3 years). Half of the subjects in each age group were tasters of the bitter compound phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and half were nontasters. Both detection and recognition thresholds, determined by a forced-choice ascending detection method, were elevated in older subjects; there were no significant differences in threshold values between tasters and nontasters of PTC. A strong relationship between bitter threshold values and the logarithm of the octanol/water partition coefficient was found for both young and elderly subjects. For young subjects, suprathreshold bitterness ratings were more intense for tasters of PTC compared with nontasters. Significant losses in suprathreshold sensitivity to bitter tastants with age were also found. However, unlike threshold sensitivity, no relationship was found between suprathreshold bitter taste intensity and lipophilicity.