Can Your Genetics Reveal Your Favorite Flavor of Ice Cream?

I love ice cream, like most people, but some flavors more than others. It turns out our genetics can help explain why!

Nearly 70% of ice cream retail purchase is driven by the flavor. While most people are united in loving ice cream, they are divided over specific flavor preferences. Most people prefer vanilla, followed by chocolate, with strawberry at a distant eighth place, according to a survey conducted by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA).

Recent genetics research conducted by 23andMe has shown that people are likely predisposed to prefer certain flavors of ice cream and other sweets, specifically chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. According to the study, different people possess various taste receptors, which, in basic terms, detect sensitivities to certain odors.

The 23andMe team identified around 800 genetic markers located near the olfactory receptor genes, all of which are possibly linked to fancying vanilla ice cream over chocolate and strawberry.

These receptors detect various odorants by sending signals to the olfactory bulb of the brain. The sense of taste and smell are highly associated. For example, a person can distinguish sweet and bitter flavor just via their smell, an ability that would be decreased in someone with a cold or other forms of nasal obstruction. It might be because that taste and smell both use the same type of receptors. Olfactory receptors could help activate taste receptors and then create the perception of flavor. Moreover, variation in the combinatorial olfactory receptor genes or receptors underlies sensitivities to different classes of odors, which in turn contribute to the flavor experience of foods that are processed by the corresponding taste receptors. - 23andMe Article