From the ACS Press Room
Children’s Dislike of Cauliflower, Broccoli could be Written in Their Microbiome “In-Mouth Volatile Production from Brassica Vegetables (Cauliflower) and Associations with Liking in an Adult/Child Cohort”
produces potent, sulfurous odors when acted upon by an enzyme in the plant’s tissues, as well as by the same enzyme produced by Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemis- bacteria in some people’s oral microbiomes. try Previous studies have shown that adults have Many children, as well as adults, dis- different levels of this enzyme in their saliva, like Brassica vegetables, such as broccoli, but whether children also have different levcauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. In els, and whether this influences their food the mouth, enzymes from these vegetables preferences, is unknown. Damian Frank and and from bacteria in saliva can produce un- colleagues, who conducted this research at pleasant, sulfurous odors. Now, researchers CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural wanted to investigate differences in sulfur and Food Chemistry have found that levels volatile production in saliva from children of these volatile compounds are similar in and adults and analyze how they affect Brassica acceptance. The researchers used gas chromatographyolfactometry-mass spectrometry to identify the main odor-active compounds in raw and steamed cauliflower and broccoli. Then, they asked 98 child/parent pairs, with children between 6 and 8 years of age, to rate the key odor compounds. Dimethyl trisulfide, which smells rotten, sulfurous and putrid, was the parent-child pairs, suggesting shared oral mileast liked odor by children and adults. The crobiomes. They also found that high levels team then mixed saliva samples with raw cause children to dislike the vegetables. cauliflower powder and analyzed the volatile Brassica vegetables contain a compound Continued on Page 15 called S-methyl-ʟ-cysteine sulfoxide that October 2021
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