Bioactive compounds like polyphenols and their health benefits have long captured public attention and interest. Commonly present in plant-based food like fruits, vegetables, seeds, coffee, and tea, the polyphenols have a strong bitter taste and, in the normal course, is excreted by our body due to poor absorption. The polyphenols interact with human bitter taste receptors also known as Type 2 taste receptors (T2R) expressed within and outside the oral cavity.
Notably, the activation of T2R expressed along the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is responsible for the bioactivity of ingested polyphenols. The scientific mechanisms beyond T2R activation leading up to the reported health benefits of polyphenols are unclear. With over 8,000 types of polyphenols and 25 types of human T2R, this is a crucial gap in knowledge.
With a focus to fill in this gap, a team of researchers led by Professor Naomi Osakabe from Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan, along with Dr. Makoto Ohmoto from the Takasaki University of Health and Welfare, Japan, Dr. Yasuyuki Fujii and Dr.
Takafumi Shimizu from Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan, and Dr. Keiko Abe from University of Tokyo, Japan, and Dr. Vittorio Calabrese from University of Catania, Italy, conducted a review to understand the interaction between the polyphenols and T2R and the resulting health benefits.
Their findings were published on 18 June 2024 in the journal of Food Bioscience. Professor Osakabe asserts, "Despite their poor absorptio.