Why bitter foods are better for you

After water, tea is the most popular drink in the world. We turn to it for comfort, for a break in the day, and increasingly, for its claimed mood‑calming powers. Scroll through social media and you’ll find no shortage of claims that tea, or more so one of its bioactive compounds ...  Show more

One of the best guides to food variety is colour. And for colour, there’s a group of natural plant chemicals called anthocyanins that are getting a lot of attention for their potential benefits on the brain. Anthocyanins are the pigments that give red, purple, and blue plants the ...  Show more

It’s one of the five basic tastes, along with salty, sweet, sour, and umami. It’s also the least popular and the most mysterious. “That tastes bitter” is not usually a compliment, and yet scientists are increasingly concerned that by banishing bitter from our diets, we’re affecti ...  Show more

Could bitter foods be better for your health?(Image: Getty Images)Find a full transcript for this episode and more programmes to help you with your English at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english_2024/ep-240509FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Vi ...  Show more

Gymnemic acid binds to the taste receptors on your tongue that perceive sweetness. As a result, it makes sweet things taste a lot less sweet. Read the transcript at https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/healthy-eating/what-is-gymnema-sylvestre-and-can-it-kill-sugar-cra ...  Show more

Why do some people scarf down anchovies by the pound while others recoil at the thought of a tuna fish sandwich? Why do the textures of certain foods, like mushrooms, turn people off? Not only is taste a biologically complex experience, it is quite psychological. Our guest is psy ...  Show more