Prof. Masha Niv of Hebrew University is one of the world’s experts on bitterness.

At the university’s Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, Niv and her lab have created BitterDB, the most comprehensive online database of bitter-tasting molecules and their receptors.

The open database, listing more than 2,200 bitter molecules, uses machine learning and computational analysis to help scientists around the world predict bitterness without ever having to taste it.

One of the lab’s goals is to figure out how to mute bitter tastes, making it easier for children, people with disabilities, the elderly, and even animals to swallow bad-tasting medicine.

Niv told The Times of Israel that she finds it interesting that, on Passover, when Jews eat maror, or bitter herbs such as horseradish, to ritually remember their ancestors’ time as Egyptian slaves, they are not avoiding bitterness but “leaning into it.”

“Perhaps we eat bitter herbs not to feel sorry for ourselves but to remember that bad things happened and remind ourselves that we’ve survived,” Niv said. “Maybe it’s a way of thinking about resilience.”

Niv then segued into her latest peer-reviewed research, published on Tuesday in Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. Written by graduate student Nitsan Dallal, the study shows a new way to block the body’s bitter taste receptors, which are the sensors that detect bitterness.

That means that the bitterness of maror — or any other bitter substance — can be stopped from inside the receptor, before the bitter molecule triggers a signal to the brain.

The findings can pave the way not only for better-tasting medicines but also can help further the understanding of the biological roles of bitter taste receptors that appear outside of the tongue. They’re even found in tissues such as the lungs, heart, and brain.

Bitter doesn’t necessarily mean toxic

For years, people believed that tasting bitterness helped people survive because the bitter “warned you not to eat poison,” Niv said.

“The thinking was, you taste something bitter, and you die,” she said. “I said, ‘Okay, let’s try to look for data that shows an agreement between the levels of toxicity and bitterness.’ And we found that many health-promoting molecules are actually bitter.”

Indeed, dark leafy greens such as kale and arugula are classic examples of bitter foods that are rich in antioxidants. Other healthy but bitter foods include Brussels sprouts and broccoli.

Dark chocolate and coffee are also bitter, and yet they turn out to be “good for you,” Niv said. “Studies linked moderate consumption to lower rates of heart disease and diabetes.”

“The bitter taste is not necessarily toxic, but rather warns you from something unknown or........

© The Times of Israel