. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Dec 29.

Published in final edited form as: Dev Psychobiol. 2003 Sep;43(2):120–127. doi: 10.1002/dev.10127

Table 2. Bitter Taste Perception and Preferences in Children and Adult.

	Children			Mothers
	Type of bitter
Pair-wise comparison	Urea	Caffeine	Tetralone	Urea	Caffeine	Tetralone
What tastes more bitter?
Bitter vs. Bitter+Salt	66^*	68	28^*	73^*	77^*	37
Bitter vs. Salt	61	67	74^*	77^*	73^*	91^*
Bitter vs. Water	85^*	100^*	91^*	87^*	92^*	91^*
Bitter+Salt vs. Salt	41	69^*	78^*	59	73^*	87^*
Bitter+Salt vs. Water	71^*	77^*	96^*	72^*	96^*	96^*
Salt vs. Water	54	58	65	69^*	69^*	57
Subjects (n)	41	26	23	39	26	23
What tastes better?
Bitter vs. Bitter+Salt	30^*	30^*	77^*	18^*	33	72^*
Bitter vs. Salt	30^*	35	26^*	26^*	12^*	22^*
Bitter vs. Water	20^*	4^*	17^*	10^*	8^*	0^*
Bitter+Salt vs. Salt	54	23^*	17^*	56	19^*	4^*
Bitter+Salt vs. Water	39	31^*	9^*	26^*	12^*	4^*
Salt vs. Water	37	46	48	31^*	12^*	13^*
Subjects (n)	41	26	23	39	26	23

Note. Values are expressed as %, unless otherwise indicated (n). Children and mothers who indicated when the bitter solution, bitter solution combined with sodium gluconate, or sodium gluconate tasted “more bitter” or “better” when compared to each other, salt, or water. Bitter solutions were 0.5 M urea, 0.08 M caffeine, and 1.37 × 10⁻⁴ M Tetralone. The salt solution was 0.3 M sodium gluconate. The percentage refers to number of subjects that chose the solution that is underlined when compared to non-underlined solution of the pair.

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