Eating bitter foods may mean you have ‘psychopathic tendencies’

If you’re more of a black coffee fan than a caramel latte person, or a gin and tonic drinker rather than a rum and Coke lover, then scientists could have some pretty worrying news for you.

In fact, people are returning to a study from 2016 which analyses taste preferences and its links to certain behaviours.

According to the study, preferring bitter taste profiles could mean that people display worrying personality traits including psychopathic tendencies.

A total of 953 Americans took part in the study conducted by researchers from the University of Innsbruck in Austria.

People involved were questioned about how much they enjoyed sweet, sour, salty and bitter taste profiles. Bitter foods people were asked about included black coffee and dark chocolate.

Participants were then given a survey which analysed narcissistic, aggressive and sadist tendencies.

According to the researchers behind the study, they found a significant link between “increased enjoyment of bitter foods and heightened sadistic proclivities”.

One to think about the next time you order a black Americano, perhaps…

The study read: “In two studies, we investigated how bitter taste preferences might be associated with anti-social personality traits… Two US American community samples self-reported their taste preferences using two complementary preference measures and answered a number of personality questionnaires assessing Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, everyday sadism, trait aggression, and the Big Five factors of personality.

“The results of both studies confirmed the hypothesis that bitter taste preferences are positively associated with malevolent personality traits, with the most robust relation to everyday sadism and psychopathy.”

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