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Updated: Aug 18, 2026
Psychophysical Tracking Method to Assess Taste Detection Thresholds in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: The Taste Detection Threshold (TDT) Test
Published on: April 21, 2021
The relationship between PTC taster status and taste thresholds in young adults
Ju-Hee Hong1, Jin-Woo Chung, Young-Ku Kim
1Department of Oral Medicine and Oral Diagnosis, College of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to compare taste detection and recognition thresholds of young males and females, and young phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) "tasters" and "nontasters" for stimuli representing sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami classes of taste sensations.
Study Design:
Thirty-eight men and 37 women (mean [SD] age = 24.5 [2.5] years) were classified as PTC tasters and nontasters according to their PTC recognition thresholds. Detection and recognition thresholds for the non-PTC stimuli were determined using a 2-alternative, forced choice procedure.
Results:
The detection thresholds for quinine-HCl and sucrose and the recognition threshold for quinine-HCl were significantly higher in the PTC nontasters than in the tasters. The PTC threshold showed significant correlations with detection or recognition thresholds for sucrose, sodium chloride, quinine-HCl, and monosodium glutamate. The sucrose recognition threshold was lower in women than in men.
Conclusion:
In this study, gender and PTC taster status were found to be associated with thresholds for sucrose and quinine-HCl.
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