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Biotech / Medical : Biotech Valuation
CRSP 55.94-3.7%12:02 PM EST
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From: A.J. Mullen12/29/2009 7:31:00 PM
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Pine nuts and a bitter taste

A friend of mine noticed that everything he put into his mouth had a bitter taste. This lasted for days. He had no taste until he put something in his mouth. After a little research with Google he discovered this was known to happen after consuming some pine nuts, particularly those imported from China. en.wikipedia.org

He had recently eaten pine nuts. His wife was worrying about her weight, so he suggested pine nuts to inhibit her eating and to test the theory. She agreed to try the nuts. It takes a day or two before the effect takes hold. Once it did, she decided the bad taste wasn't worth the few pounds she had hoped to lose.

Senomyx (SNMX) is working on bitter inhibitors and sucrose and savoury enhancers. The idea is to allow food manufacturers to reduce sweeteners, salt and MSG without reducing the taste of food. Perhaps the pine nut has blundered on a bitter enhancer. Or perhaps it makes the bitter receptors fire on encountering molecules other than those generally associated with a bitter taste.

What's the evolutionary point? Maybe none, but perhaps a squirrel or some such animal tastes the nuts, and a few days later everything else is unpalatable, then pine nuts will be preferentially stored for the winter and some wil not be consumed. That allows the pine nut tree to get its nuts off!
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