Genetic Variants Influencing Taste Perception and Food Preferences: Current Evidence

Taste perception, taste preferences, and food preferences are three interrelated constructs underlying food-related behavior and contribute to individual dietary choices. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to shaping these traits. Taste perception refers to interindividual differences in biological sensitivity to basic taste modalities. Taste preferences represent the hedonic evaluation of taste modalities, including salty, sweet, bitter, sour, or umami, and fatty tastes, and are closely related to, but distinct from, taste perception. Recent evidence in sensory genetics has identified numerous single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) associated with interindividual differences in both taste perception and taste-modality-related responses. Essential genes include TAS1R2 and TAS1R3 for sweet taste, TAS1R1 and TAS1R3 for umami, TAS2R38 for bitter taste, CD36 for fat perception, and epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) subunits for salt sensitivity. Regarding broader food preferences, variants in genes involved in metabolic regulation and reward processing—such as FTO, MC4R, GHRL, DRD2, and OPRM1—also contribute to food-related behaviors and choice patterns. Health status and genetic variants may also influence taste perception and food preferences. This review summarizes current evidence on the genetic determinants of taste perception, taste modality preferences, and food liking, emphasizing the multifactorial nature of food-related behaviors and the role of genetic variability in shaping individual differences in dietary choices.