Taste Thresholds for Phenylthiourea among Ashkenazic Jews

Abstract

Taste thresholds for phenylthiourea were measured for 244 Ashkenazic Jews. The frequency of nontasters was 27.86 percent. In the sample, 102 individuals were of pure Polish ancestry, and the frequency of nontasters among these was significantly different from the frequencies of nontasters among Europeans and Mongoloids.