SC - ISO Vikingarnas gastabud (cookbook)

[Ginny Claphan]

Tudorcook wrote:
> 
> --- Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> wrote: > Olwen
> > Everybody produces
> > the chemical,
> > including those that can't smell it. It's not about
> > the urine, it's
> > about the individual's olfactory nerve bundles, or
> > some such. Bear in
> > mind I'm not speaking as a doctor or anything, just
> > a reader of a book
> > on food science that makes this assertion. On the
> > other hand, there are
> > several sources for this information.
> >
> > Similar genetic irregularities would include, say,
> > the ability to roll
> > one's tongue into a tube, which has nothing to do
> > with skill; either you
> > can do it or you can't, or whether or not you're
> > blind to certain colors.
> 
> Adamantius
> I have to say that I am rather amused by this whole
> thread.  In fact somepeople could have genes that
> result in the senses developing in slightly different
> ways, such as people having different tonal ranges
> that they can hear.  But to be honest we really do not
> yet understand where the contribution of a given gene
> or genes leaves off and the environmental influences
> start.  The ability to smell a certain chemical, if
> purely a genetic trait, is probably not the result of
> a single gene but a contribution of all the genes that
> are involved in the development and control of not
> only all nasal structures but also of the centres in
> the brain responsible for receiving and interpreting
> that data.  So in answer to the original question yes
> the ability to smell asparagus in your urine may be a
> genetic tendency but its probably a combination of a
> whole host of factors.  Alot of people make the
> assertions that a given trait is genetic (for example
> tendencies towards criminality) without even looking
> at whether this is possible genetically or whether it
> is a response to an individiuals environment, inluding
> their upbringing.
> 
> =====
> Elizabeth

See above...

> > > Bear in
> > > mind I'm not speaking as a doctor or anything, just
> > > a reader of a book
> > > on food science that makes this assertion. On the
> > > other hand, there are
> > > several sources for this information.

And if they've all been proven wrong since publication, so be it.
Another consideration is that if anybody was speaking of a very specific
gene, as in, the third one from the left, I sincerely doubt anybody ever
knew which one it was. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it
_appears_ to be an inherited trait phenomenon.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com