That’s what gin and tonic says about your intelligence!

You like gin and tonic? Then next time you should taste exactly how bitter you find it. A study has shown that it tells you a lot about your intelligence.

With gin and tonic, it’s one thing: some people love the bitter taste of the trendy long drink, others find it much too bitter. But Gin Tonic can do more than just split the tempers: According to a new study, it tells you a lot about your intelligence, for how bitter you rate the taste of the drink. The surprising conclusion: The size of the brain determines how bitter we find a food.

The brain controls the taste

For the study, over 1,600 American and Australian subjects were asked to taste sweet and bitter beverages and evaluate the taste of the sample. Tonic water was used for the bitter samples – because it contains quinine, among other things. “Quinine is a key component in tonic water and is often used to assess people’s reaction to a bitter taste,” writes Dr Daniel Hwang of the University of Queensland in a press release.

After the taste test, the brains of the participants were measured in an MRT scan. It was found that..: The subjects who rated the tonic water as not very bitter had larger brains than those who rated the taste as very bitter. “Whether you enjoy tonic water or not, people with larger brains usually find it less bitter,” Dr. Hwang summarized the results. And a larger brain is a factor in higher intelligence, according to the researchers.

Better nutrition as a goal

“Our study is a step towards understanding exactly how the brain perceives taste,” the researcher continues. With new findings of this kind, it is hoped to improve people’s eating habits and simplify the treatment of eating disorders.