Here, we present the results of a genome-wide association study among 14,604 participants of European ancestry who reported whether cilantro tasted soapy, with replication in a distinct set of 11,851 participants who declared whether they liked cilantro. We find a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) significantly associated with soapy-taste detection that is confirmed in the cilantro preference group. This SNP, rs72921001 (p = 6.4 × 10−9, odds ratio 0.81 per A allele), lies within a cluster of olfactory receptor genes on chromosome 11. Among these olfactory receptor genes is OR6A2, which has a high binding specificity for several of the aldehydes that give cilantro its characteristic odor. We also estimate the heritability of cilantro soapy-taste detection in our cohort, showing that the heritability tagged by common SNPs is low, about 0.087.
What was interesting is that, until I was dating my future wife, in 2008, I didn't know of anyone who thought that cilantro tasted like soap. A friend several years before mentioned that some people find that cilantro tastes of soap. As I was aware of my reaction to cilantro from years earlier, and then meeting my future wife who thinks cilantro tastes soapy, like all good science I was like "huh, that's odd, based on these two polar opposite reactions I wonder if there is a genetic component to it." And I did some digging, and signed up to answer some questions and do a blood test, and a few years later, there was a study published. My wife is from Indiana, 2nd generation immigrant, of Italian descent. I am Welsh whose ancestry in that country goes back at least 12 generations with no outside mixing, or so I am told.
Your theory is fact. https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/20...
Here, we present the results of a genome-wide association study among 14,604 participants of European ancestry who reported whether cilantro tasted soapy, with replication in a distinct set of 11,851 participants who declared whether they liked cilantro. We find a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) significantly associated with soapy-taste detection that is confirmed in the cilantro preference group. This SNP, rs72921001 (p = 6.4 × 10−9, odds ratio 0.81 per A allele), lies within a cluster of olfactory receptor genes on chromosome 11. Among these olfactory receptor genes is OR6A2, which has a high binding specificity for several of the aldehydes that give cilantro its characteristic odor. We also estimate the heritability of cilantro soapy-taste detection in our cohort, showing that the heritability tagged by common SNPs is low, about 0.087.