Some Food Smells Hint at Nutrition

By Randolph Schmidt
Associated Press
posted: 09 February 2006

Washington (AP)- That fresh grassy smell wafting up from the newly sliced tomato may be it's way of saying "I'm good for you."

Indeed, the odors from foods ranging from garlic and onions to ginger and strawberries may be nutritional signals that the human nose has learned to recognize.

"Studies of flavor preferences and aversions suggest that flavor perception may be linked to the nutritional or health value'' of foods, researchers Stephen A. Goff and Harry J. Klee report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

However, they caution, domestication of many vegetables has not been kind to them, tending to favor qualities like color, shape, yield and disease resistance instead of flavor and nutrition.

Flavor is complex and uniquely challenging to plant breeders, they note, and as a result has not been a high priority.

Read full article: www.livescience.com/humanbiology/ap_060209_food_smells.html