Study: Girls' taste buds best those of boys

Girls are generally better at recognizing tastes than boys, according to results of a Danish study.

For the study, which was conducted by researchers from the University of Copenhagen, the tasting abilities of 8,900 Danish schoolchildren were examined. Findings showed that boys need an average of roughly 10% more sourness, and about 20% more sweetness, to recognize these tastes when compared to girls.

Other results revealed that the boys studied preferred stronger, more extreme flavors, while girls preferred milder tastes. Also, a child's sense of taste seems to change with age, as those between the ages of 13 to 14 became much more sensitive to sour tastes than younger children, while the older children's preference for highly sugary flavors decreased.

In addition, 30% of children who participated in a blind soft drink test preferred tastes that contained either no or very little sugar. However, 48% of the children said they preferred the sugary soft drink taste. Boys preferred the sugary soft drink more often than girls.