Why are cats unable to detect sweet tastes?
Learn about why cats' taste receptors cannot detect sweets.
© American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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Transcript
NARRATOR: Think your cat has a sweet tooth? Think again. In the 1970s Dr. Gary Beauchamp went to the Philadelphia Zoo to do research on sweet taste receptor genes on cats like lions, tigers, cheetahs, and house cats. These cats were given two different types of water-- sugar water and regular water. The cats showed no preference for the sugary water over the unsweetened stuff.
While humans, monkeys, dogs and other animals definitely prefer sweet flavors, decades of research show that cats could care less about sweets. But why? As it turns out, a cat's sweet receptor genes are broken. For more, here's Leslie Stein of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, an institute dedicated to research on taste and smell.
LESLIE STEIN: And a team from Monell several years ago did a survey and found that there was a pseudo gene or a broken gene in cats that makes them unable to detect the sweet taste. And what happened was there are actually two parts of the sweet taste receptor that join to make the complete sweet taste receptor. And one of those, the gene is broken. So because of that, you can't get the complete receptor and the cats can't taste sweet.
NARRATOR: So this broken gene prevents lions, tigers, and British longhairs from tasting sweets. So why do some of them seem to go nuts for ice cream, marshmallows, or cotton candy? According to Stein, these cats are not tasting the sweet flavors, but they are tasting something that appeals to them. The exact taste has yet to be identified, but it's possible that they taste something else like fat or salt. So the next time you think about giving Fluffy a sweet treat, think again, she'd probably much prefer a salty sardine.
While humans, monkeys, dogs and other animals definitely prefer sweet flavors, decades of research show that cats could care less about sweets. But why? As it turns out, a cat's sweet receptor genes are broken. For more, here's Leslie Stein of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, an institute dedicated to research on taste and smell.
LESLIE STEIN: And a team from Monell several years ago did a survey and found that there was a pseudo gene or a broken gene in cats that makes them unable to detect the sweet taste. And what happened was there are actually two parts of the sweet taste receptor that join to make the complete sweet taste receptor. And one of those, the gene is broken. So because of that, you can't get the complete receptor and the cats can't taste sweet.
NARRATOR: So this broken gene prevents lions, tigers, and British longhairs from tasting sweets. So why do some of them seem to go nuts for ice cream, marshmallows, or cotton candy? According to Stein, these cats are not tasting the sweet flavors, but they are tasting something that appeals to them. The exact taste has yet to be identified, but it's possible that they taste something else like fat or salt. So the next time you think about giving Fluffy a sweet treat, think again, she'd probably much prefer a salty sardine.
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