Latest / Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson / Why Bitterness is Good for You

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Why Bitterness is Good for You · Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

• 0:04
  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: M why is it that some of you gag at Brussels sprouts?
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  Okay, maybe that's just me. While others
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  munch arugula like it's candy. Today, we're diving
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  into the world of bitterness. Why it exists, why your
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  stomach can taste it, how bitters went from medicine to
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  cocktails, and why gin and tonic isn't
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  just a refreshing drink. It's actually
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  a medical treatment.
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  I am your Chief Medical Explanationist, Dr. Terry Simpson,
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  and this is Fork you Fork
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  University, where we make sense of the madness, bust
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  some myths, and teach you a little bit about food and maybe
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  some bitter medicine.
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  Bitterness is nature's way of saying,
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  hey, maybe you don't want to eat that now. It didn't
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  work when mom fed me Brussels sprouts, but it is a,
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  uh, built in warning system, like your body's version of
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  a car alarm, except instead of just
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  annoying you, it's trying to keep you from poisoning
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  yourself. Historically,
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  many toxic plants have bitter
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  compounds. So our ancestors who were pretty good
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  at detecting bitterness were less likely to snack
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  on something deadly. So congratulations.
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  Your picky eating habits might just be a leftover
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  survival benefit. I knew those Brussels sprouts
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  were not meant for me. But here's where it
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  gets weirder. While some bitter compounds
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  are toxic, others are packed with health
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  benefits. Think of foods like kale,
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  coffee, dark chocolate,
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  turmeric, all bitter, all loaded with
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  antioxidants and nutrients. The problem?
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  Not everybody's taste buds
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  agree. Have you ever wondered why some people can
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  sip black coffee and smile, while others, if you
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  give them a cup of black coffee, react like they just licked a
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  9 volt battery? It all comes down to
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  genetics. In fact, it's a gene called the
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  TAS2R, uh, 38, that
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  determines whether you're a supertaster, meaning bitter
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  flavors hit you like a freight train, or a non
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  taster, meaning you're oblivious to
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  them. Supertasters experience
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  bitterness so intensely that food like Brussels
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  sprouts and grapefruit are borderline
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  inedible. Non tasters, on the other hand, can drink
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  a bitter ipa, beer and black coffee without
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  a second thought. And then there's the rest of us. We're all
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  somewhere in between, politely tolerating kale in
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  the name of health. Now, here's a plot
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  twist. Your bitter taste buds
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  aren't just on your tongue. Your stomach
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  has them too. Yep, your stomach can
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  taste bitterness. And when it does, it actually
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  reacts when these bitter
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  compounds hit these stomach receptors. And that's what the bitter
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  tastes are. They slow down
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  digestion. Which means that
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  bitter foods can help you feel full longer because
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  your stomach holds onto them instead of rushing
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  them through. This is one of the reasons why a meal
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  packed with bitter greens keeps you satisfied with while
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  that sugary breakfast cereal leaves you starving an hour
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  later. But that's not all. But wait, there's more.
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  Those stomach taste buds also act as
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  bodyguards against potential foodborne
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  threats. If your stomach detects
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  something bitter, especially if it wasn't supposed to be
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  bitter, it pumps the brakes on digestion.
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  The idea is to keep those potentially harmful
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  compounds from reaching the small intestine too quickly,
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  where they can do damage. Think of it like airport security.
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  Before anything moves on, your stomach is running a
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  background check. So imagine this.
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  These bitter compounds have something deadly in
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  them, and your stomach is going to create more
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  acid and not let things through. And that
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  acid is going to try and destroy that, whether it's a bacteria
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  or a virus or whatever. And if it doesn't
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  let it through like it's truly a bad bug,
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  you will end up bloating and bloating and bloating and getting more
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  nauseated. And finally, your stomach will expel
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  them violently. We call that vomiting.
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  Speaking of bitterness and digestion, let's talk about
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  bitters. You know those little bottles that the
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  bartenders dramatically shake into your Old
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  Fashioned, or in my case, a Manhattan. Before
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  bitters were the secret ingredient in cocktails, they were
• 4:19
  actually medicine. Yep. Bitters started
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  out as, as an herbal remedy for digestive
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  issues. And they've been used for centuries to
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  help with bloating, nausea, and sluggish
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  digestion. Monks in the Middle ages created
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  bitter herbal tonics to help with digestion.
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  Basically, it was an early form of Pepto
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  Bismol, but with more wormwood
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  and fewer weird pink bubbles. By the 1800s,
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  bitters had become, uh, a staple for apothecaries, early
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  pharmacies. And people would take a few drops of them before meals
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  as a digestive to aid in digestion. And
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  some of those famous brands of bitters today, like
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  Angostera or Peychaud's, were originally sold as
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  health tonics before bartenders figured out they could
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  make that alcohol taste even better.
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  And here's why they bitter compounds
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  in these herbal extracts activate those
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  stomach taste receptors we talked about earlier,
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  delaying gastric emptying and helping break
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  down food more efficiently. So while today
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  you might think of bitters as a fancy cocktail ingredient, they
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  actually have a long history of keeping people's
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  digestive enzymes in check. It's
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  medicine with a side of booze. What's not to
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  love. And during prohibition,
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  in New Orleans, or New Orleans if you happen
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  to be from there, bitters were held by pharmacies
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  and people would actually be able to legally buy
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  bitters as their medicine. You
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  know, get drunk on, uh, the government's time.
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  But now let's talk about a bitter drink that was actually
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  used as medicine. Gin and tonic. Now,
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  I'm not telling you to replace your multivitamins with happy hour,
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  but back in the day, gin and tonic wasn't just a
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  refreshing cocktail, it was a
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  legitimate treatment for malaria. So here's how it
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  happened. In the 1800s, British soldiers and
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  colonists in tropical regions were getting absolutely
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  wrecked by malaria. And the best known
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  treatment at the time was quinine, a bitter
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  compound found in the bark of a tree.
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  Quinine was incredibly effective at treating and
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  preventing malaria. But there was a problem.
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  It tasted awful. Imagine
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  chewing aspirin mixed with tree bark and
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  regret. So to make it more
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  palatable, they mixed it with sugar, lime
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  soda, water, and thus tonic water was
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  born. But British soldiers weren't about to drink
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  just tonic water. So they did what any
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  reasonable person would do. They added gin. The
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  result? The drink that kept malaria at
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  bay while also making colonial life slightly
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  more tolerable. Missing old England. And just like that,
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  the gin and tonic became the most functional
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  cocktail in history. The 4 o'clock
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  high tea in many of the tropical
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  sites, Africa, India was replaced
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  with gin and tonics. Now, before you go
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  prescribing yourself gin and tonic for medical reasons, let me
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  clarify. Modern tonic water contains
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  trace amounts of quinine, and malaria prevention
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  has come a long way since then, but they still use it as an
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  excuse to order at the bar. I'm drinking this one for historical
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  and medicinal purposes.
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  Finally, quinine also has a use in
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  heart medicine and it's used for cardiac
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  arrhythmias. Some of us are
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  allergic to quinine. And if I were to
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  drink a, ah, gin and tonic, for example, with normal
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  quinine or some of the quinine filled ones like Indian
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  fever, I will actually have fevers
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  from that. Today's
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  malarial parasites, by the way, are mostly
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  resistant to quinine. So we just don't use it for that
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  anymore.
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  So before you start adding bitters to everything, let's go over some ground rules.
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  Bitter bitters are not for everyone. In fact, for some people, they
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  do more harm than good. Who should avoid
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  bitters? Pregnant and breastfeeding
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  individuals. Bitters contain compounds that can be harmful
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  during pregnancy and they're infused with alcohol.
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  They're not baby friendly children Again, they're alcohol
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  based, not the children. So don't
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  mix those into your kids. Grape juice or apple
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  juice. People with gastrointestinal disease. So
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  if you have ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease, or any condition that makes
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  your gut sensitive, bitters can actually
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  worsen the irritation. They can cause
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  nausea, cramping, diarrhea, gas, and a sore stomach.
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  In other words, bitters can be great for digestion if
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  your digestion system is in good shape. But if you're dealing
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  with some gut issues, maybe skip the bitters and talk to
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  your doctor before adding that routine. So
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  what have we learned today? Bitterness. One of the
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  tastes on the taste bud exists to protect us. But
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  not all bitter foods are bad. Some
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  people taste bitterness more than others. Those are supertasters. Your
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  stomach can taste it too. And bitters have been used in medicine for centuries.
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  Oh, and gin and tonic started as a malarial treatment.
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  So really drinking one is just historical
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  appreciation. Finally, a note to my
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  all famous Brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts were
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  crossbred, so the Brussels sprouts that you
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  taste today are unlike the brussels sprouts
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  I grew up with back in the 60s and
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  70s. Those Brussels sprouts were extremely bitter. The ones
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  today are far more sweet and more palatable.
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  Although I still have that sense of dread
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  whenever I see a Brussels sprout on my plate.
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  Anyway, if you love the food science without the flub,
• 9:32
  subscribe to my substack on T.
• 9:34
  Simpson.substack.com and do check out
• 9:36
  the blog associated with
• 9:38
  this@yourdoctorsorders.com
• 9:41
  all right. Eating smarts always in
• 9:44
  style. This podcast was researched and directed by
• 9:46
  me, Dr. Terri Simpson. And uh, while I am a doctor, I am
• 9:49
  not your doctor. This is for information and hopefully
• 9:52
  some educational purposes. If you need a doctor, please see
• 9:55
  a board certified western trained doctor. I don't see private
• 9:58
  patients off my podcast. Please don't see a chiropractor or some
• 10:01
  eastern guy trained in the dark arts. This pod
• 10:04
  is distributed by my friends at Simpler Media. Shout out to
• 10:07
  my good friend the pod God, Mr. Evotera.
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  Alright, have a sweet and maybe a bitter
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  week.
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  Hey Ivo, you know, in the old days when I enjoyed a Good
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  Man Patins, the bitters just had to be perfect.
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  Not too few, but there never
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  seemed to be too many. And I recall
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  you teaching me a little bit about bitters in
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  beers. Uh, that was a few years ago, my
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  friend. I think we've
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  gotten old.
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  >> Speaker B: Well, that's the damn truth. Although I
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  wonder, do the hops in beer. The
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  bittering agent.
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  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: Hmm. Hm.
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  >> Speaker B: Somehow slow down the aging process.
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  More research needed, clearly. Cheers.