Most candidates will face a number of problems on the IELTS reading part, but there is no need to be concerned. Fortunately, a few easy methods will help you significantly boost your Reading score. We have used them and solved some questions on the topic “Biology of Bitterness”. Read now to grasp everything for your next IELTS exam.
Biology of Bitterness IELTS Reading Answers
Read this topic and find the answers to the questions given below. This will help you in your IELTS preparation.
Biology of Bitterness Section A
There is a reason why grapefruit juice is served in little glasses: most people don’t want to drink more than a few ounces at a time. aringin, a natural chemical compound found in grapefruit, tastes bitter. Some people like that bitterness in small doses and believe it enhances the general flavour, but others would rather avoid it altogether.
So juice packagers often select grapefruit with low naringin though the compound has antioxidant properties that some nutritionists contend may help prevent cancer and arteriosclerosis.
Biology of Bitterness Section B
It is possible, however, to get the goodness of grapefruit juice without the bitter taste. I found that out by participating in a test conducted at the Linguagen Corporation, a biotechnology company in Cranbury, New Jersey. Sets of two miniature white paper cups, labeled 304and 305, were placed before five people seated around a conference table. Each of us drank from one cup and then the other, cleansing our palates between tastes with water and a soda cracker.
Even the smallest sip of 304 had grapefruit ‘s unmistakable bitter bite. But 305 was smoother; there was the sour taste of citrus but none of the bitterness of naringin. This juice had been treated with adenosine monophosphate, or AMP, a compound that blocks the bitterness in foods without making them less nutritious.
Biology of Bitterness Section C
Taste research is a booming business these days, with scientists delving into all five basics-sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami, the savoury taste of protein. Bitterness is of special interest to industry because of its untapped potential in food. There are thousands of bitter-tasting compounds in nature.
They defend plants by warning animals away and protect animals by letting them know when a plant may be poisonous. But the system isn’t foolproof. Grapefruit and cruciferous vegetables like Brussels sprouts and kale are nutritious despite and sometimes because of of-their bitter-tasting components.
Over time, many people have learned to love them, at least in small doses. “Humans are the only species that enjoy the bitter taste,” says Charles Zuker, a neuroscientist at the University of California School of Medicine at San Diego.
Biology of Bitterness Section D
Milesi star other species is averse to bitterness because it means bad news. But we have learned to enjoy it. We drink coffee, which is bitter, and quinine [in tonic water] too. We enjoy having that spice in our lives.” Because bitterness can be pleasing in small quantities but repellent when intense, bitter blockers like AMP could make a whole range of foods, drinks, and medicines more palatable-and therefore more profitable.
People have varying capacities for tasting bitterness, and the differences appear to be genetic. About 75 percent of people are sensitive to the taste of6795辣安 the bitter compounds phenylthiocarbamide and 6-n-propylthiouracil. and 25 percent are insensitive.
Biology of Bitterness Section E
Those who are sensitive to phenylthiocarbamide seem to be less likely than others to eat cruciferous vegetables, according to Stephen Wooding, a geneticist at the University of Utah. Some people, known as supertasters, are especially sensitive to 6-n-propylthiouracil because they have an unusually high number of taste buds.
Supertasters tend to shun all kinds of bitter-tasting things, including vegetables, coffee, and dark chocolate. Perhaps as a result, they tend to be thin. They’re also less fond of alcoholic drinks, which are often slightly bitter. Dewar’s scotch, for instance, tastes somewhat sweet to most people. ” But a supertaster tastes no sweetness at all, only bitterness,” says Valerie Duffy, an associate professor of dietetics at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.
Biology of Bitterness Section F
In one recent study, Duffy found that supertasters consume alcoholic beverages, on average, only two to three times a week, compared with five or six times for the average nontasters. Each taste bud, which looks like an onion, consists of 50 to 100 elongated cells running from the top of the bud to the bottom.
At the top is a little clump of receptors that capture the taste molecules, known as tastants, in food and drink. The receptors function much like those for sight and smell. Once a bitter signal has been received, it is relayed via proteins known as G proteins.
The G protein involved in the perception of bitterness, sweetness, and umami was identified in the early 1990s by Linguagen’s founder, Robert Margolskee, at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Known as gustducin, the protein triggers a cascade of chemical reactions that lead to changes in ion concentrations within the cell.
Biology of Bitterness Section G
Ultimately, this delivers a signal to the brain that registers as bitter. “The signaling system is like a bucket brigade,” Margolskee says. It goes from the G protein to other proteins.”
In 2000 Zuker and others found some 30 different kinds of genes that code for bitter taste receptors. We knew the number would have to be large because there is such a large universe of bitter tastes,” Zuker says. Yet no matter which tastant enters the mouth or which receptor it attaches to, bitter always tastes the same to us.
The only variation derives from its intensity and the ways in which it can be flavoured by the sense of smell. “Taste cells are like a light switch,” Zuker says. “They are either on or off.”
Biology of Bitterness Section H
Once they figured out the taste mechanism, scientists began to think of ways to interfere with it. They tried AMP, an organic compound found in breast milk and other substances, which is created as cells break down food. Amp has no bitterness of its own, but when put in foods, Margolskee and his colleagues discovered, it attaches to bitter-taste receptors.
As effective as it is, AMP may not be able to dampen every type of bitter taste, because it probably doesn’t attach to all 30 bitter-taste receptors. So Linguagen has scaled up the hunt for other bitter blockers with a technology called high-throughput screening. Researchers start by coaxing cells in culture to activate bitter-taste receptors.
Then candidate substances, culled from chemical compound libraries, are dropped onto the receptors, and scientists look for evidence of a reaction.
Biology of Bitterness Section I
In time, some taste researchers believe, compounds like AMP will help make processed foods less unhealthy. Consider, for example, that a single cup of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup contains 850 milligrams of sodium chloride, or table salt-more than a third of the recommended daily allowance. The salt masks the bitterness created by the high temperatures used in the canning process, which cause sugars and amino acids to react.
Part of the salt could be replaced by another salt, potassium chloride, which tends to be scarce in some people’s diets. Potassium chloride has a bitter aftertaste, but that could be eliminated with a dose of AMP. Bitter blockers could also be used in place of cherry or grape flavouring to take the harshness out of children’s cough syrup, and they could dampen the bitterness of antihistamines, antibiotics, certain HIV drugs, and other medications.
Biology of Bitterness Section J
A number of foodmakers have already begun to experiment with AMP in their products, and other bitter blockers are being developed by rival firms such as Senomyx in La Jolla, California.
In a few years, perhaps, after food companies have taken the bitterness from canned soup and TV dinners, they can set their sights on something more useful: a bitter blacker in a bottle that any of us can sprinkle on our brussels sprouts or stir into our grapefruit juice.
IELTS Reading Answers Synonym Questions
Answer the synonyms of the words written in bold
Taste research is a booming business these days, with scientists delving into all five basics-sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami, the savoury taste of protein. Bitterness is of special interest to industry because of its untapped potential in food. There are thousands of bitter-tasting compounds in nature.
They defend plants by warning animals away and protect animals by letting them know when a plant may be poisonous. But the system isn’t foolproof. Grapefruit and cruciferous vegetables like Brussels sprouts and kale are nutritious despite and sometimes because of of-their bitter-tasting components.
Over time, many people have learned to love them, at least in small doses. “Humans are the only species that enjoy the bitter taste,” says Charles Zuker, a neuroscientist at the University of California School of Medicine at San Diego.
Booming- flourishing
Delving- inquisition
Untapped- unexploited
Defend- safeguard
Foolproof- certain
IELTS Reading Answers Fill in The Blanks
Q1. In _____ Zuker and others found some 30 different kinds of genes that code for bitter taste receptors.
Ans. 2000
Q2. Each taste bud, which looks like an onion, consists of ______ elongated cells running from the top of the bud to the bottom.
Ans. 50 to 100
Q3. Consider, for example, that a single cup of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup contains _______ of sodium chloride, or table salt more than a third of the recommended daily allowance.
Ans. 850 milligrams
Q4. About _______ of people are sensitive to the taste of the bitter compounds phenylthiocarbamide and 6-n-propylthiouracil
Ans. 75 percent
Q5. Potassium chloride has a _______ aftertaste, but that could be eliminated with a dose of AMP.
Ans. bitter
Conclusion
Candidates may face a variety of issues, ranging from sluggish reading speed to a restricted vocabulary and grammatical base, as well as insufficient schematic knowledge of many disciplines relevant to academic endeavours and survival in English-speaking nations. Unawareness of the organisational features of a well-written document, inadequate time management, and a lack of practice are all possible issues.
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