To some people, small amounts of the compounds phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) taste very bitter; other people do not taste these compounds. In 1932, a scientist by the name of Fox was working in a lab with phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) when a colleague complained about the bitter taste of the chemical dust Fox was spreading around. Fox insisted that it was tasteless. To settle the disagreement, he had other colleagues taste the PTC and discovered that it had a strong bitter taste for some people, while others found it tasteless. This led to a large body of research on PTC tasting and what made it possible for some to taste it, while others couldn’t (McDonald 2011.) Interestingly enough, geographical patterns can hypothesize which populations can generally taste PTC, and which populations can’t. Further research found that with the exception of the aboriginal populations of Australia, the populations with the lowest prevalence of taste sensitivity to PTC are located in Europe, the Middle East, and India. PTC non-tasting was associated with populations that had entered Europe from the Middle East following the last Ice Age. These were also, presumably, the people who entered Western India in several waves over time (Taste Science 2015.) Although the presence of PTC (or PROP) has not been documented in nature, there are chemically similar compounds, known as glucosinolates, found in common bitter foods. These foods include brussel sprouts, cabbage and broccoli. For this reason, it has been suggested that a
