Did you know that the ability to taste bitter flavors is a mystery, even to scientists?
That’s right… About a million years ago, a tiny mutation in human DNA occurred, giving our ancestors the ability to detect a bitter compound in foods like seeds, nuts and olives.
Over the years, researchers believed this bitter taste perception evolved to protect people – hunter-gatherers in particular – from toxic and poisonous plants.
For hunter-gatherers, a bitter taste might mean the difference between life and death.
If that was indeed the case, it would make sense that ethnic groups still practicing the ancient art of hunter-gathering would be more likely to carry the bitter gene mutation, compared to other groups. At least that’s what researchers thought…
So, a group of researchers decided to put their theory to the test. They set out across the continent of Africa to analyze the bitter taste perception of groups, comparing hunter-gatherers to others.
Much to the researchers’ surprise, people’s ability to detect bitter tastes had nothing to do with what they ate or how they got their food.
Perplexed, they wondered why the genes developed in the first place – and why they still exist – if their purpose wasn’t to help our early ancestors avoid toxic and poisonous plants.
As scientists work on solving the mystery, they are starting to uncover clues as to the real purpose of bitter foods and substances… And it’s likely not what you think.
You Have 25 Bitter Taste Receptors – And They’re Not Just in Your Mouth
Bitter taste receptors, known as T2Rs, exist all over your body. Scientists have identified at least 25 of them in human organs and tissues.
T2Rs exist in your lungs, airways, sinuses, gastrointestinal tract, brain, pancreas, cardiovascular system, muscle, reproductive organs, bladder and urinary tract.
They’re even found in the visceral fat surrounding your organs, known as belly fat.
Obviously, bitter taste receptors don’t exist in all these locations for the purpose of tasting foods.
Rather, researchers have discovered that these T2Rs in your organs and tissues may be part of your body’s defense system and immune response.
In the plant world, bitter compounds exist as part of the plant’s self-defense system. They protect the plants against threats such as oxidative damage and predators who want to eat them – humans included.
The T2Rs in your body can detect thousands of bitter molecules, as each T2R can bind to a range of ligands, or molecules.
When activated, your bitter taste receptors set off a complex cascade of events that involve your body’s cell signaling pathways, and your metabolic, immune and inflammatory responses.
One of these signaling pathways affects your gut hormone secretion, which influences your body’s secretion of insulin after you eat a meal.
The greatest concentration of T2Rs in your gastrointestinal tract is in your large intestine. This is also where most of your gut bacteria resides.
T2Rs regulate gastrointestinal motility, appetite, nutrient uptake and fluid secretion and your gut microbiome.
Researchers have discovered that these bitter taste receptors not only influence your gut microbiome, but also your weight, immune and brain health.*
How Bitter Taste Receptors Influence Your Metabolic Health and Weight
Many people dislike bitter foods, even healthy bitter foods like some vegetables. And it turns out it may be due to genetics.
Using infant studies, researchers have uncovered clues about the hereditary differences in receptor function for sweet and bitter tastes.
In one study, 34% of infants were found to be bitter-insensitive while nearly 66% of study infants were bitter-sensitive, or sensitive to the taste of bitter substances.
Your taste perception influences your eating habits. A genetic sensitivity to bitterness may lead you to eat fewer healthy bitter foods and more carbohydrates – and greater weight gain.
Compared to the infants who were sensitive to bitter tastes in the study, those who were bitter-insensitive were more likely to consume the entire study food meal at first attempt. These infants’ intake of high fat and high sugar foods was lower than those who were sensitive to bitter foods.
Interestingly, it appears your taste receptors, or T2Rs, may be involved in your body’s regulation of glucose and the release of appetite hormones, including your hunger hormone, ghrelin.
Evidence also suggests that T2Rs play a role in maintaining a balance between diet, weight and a healthy microbiome.
Based on all these findings, researchers suggest that consuming more bitter foods may promote metabolic health, including a healthy weight and glucose metabolism.
The Hidden Signs of Metabolic Health Issues
Issues with metabolic health aren’t always apparent, but they sometimes leave behind clues. Do you have concerns about…
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Achieving and maintaining your ideal weight?
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Stubborn fat around your midsection?
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Rising blood sugar levels?
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Feeling tired or experiencing energy slumps and crashes?
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Cravings for carbs and sweets?
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Occasional gastrointestinal (GI) discomfort?
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Increased blood lipid levels and your heart?
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Mood swings or cognitive issues?
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Urinary tract issues?
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Hormonal imbalances?
While any one of these signs by itself may be concerning, if you have three or more, there’s a good chance you are metabolically challenged.
Some people assume that a normal body weight means all is well with their metabolic health. Unfortunately, that’s not true.
You can still be metabolically challenged with elevated blood lipid and glucose levels if your weight is in the normal range. Approximately 40% of normal weight individuals – and 80% of obese individuals – are metabolically unfit.
2 Simple Steps to Find Out Your Level of Metabolic Health
A simple – and reliable – way to find out your level of metabolic fitness is to compute your waist-to-hip ratio.
First, take two measurements – your waist at its smallest point and your hips at the widest part of your backside. For greatest accuracy, take two readings at each point. Then, divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement.
The chart below shows healthy measurement for metabolic fitness. If your waist-to-hip ratio is above ideal, your risk for future issues may be elevated, depending on if it is low, moderate or high.
Waist-to-Hip Ratio |
Men |
Women |
Ideal |
0.8 |
0.7 |
Low Risk |
< 0.95 |
< 0.8 |
Moderate Risk |
0.96 – 0.99 |
0.81 – 0.84 |
High Risk |
> 1.0 |
> 0.85 |
A hallmark sign of metabolic inflexibility is the appearance of visceral fat, or as it’s commonly called – belly fat. The higher your waist-to-hip ratio, the more likely you have an accumulation of this type of fat around your abdominal organs.
Visceral fat can wrap around your internal organs and deposit itself deep down in the spaces of your abdominal cavity.
So, what’s so bad about belly fat?
It’s far more dangerous to your health than subcutaneous fat, the type of fat that lies just beneath your skin.
Belly fat cells are different from other fat cells, too. They act as though they’re their own organ – they’re biologically active and produce their own hormones and other substances.
They can even release potentially harmful free fatty acids, which can travel to your liver and negatively affect your body’s blood lipids.
How Metabolic Issues Impact Your Health
Metabolic issues can affect your long-term health in multiple ways. Here are just three ways high blood sugar levels can impact your well-being:
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Failing to optimize your blood sugar can lead to damaged blood vessels and nerves and raise your risk for cardiovascular and other issues.
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High levels of glucose can harm your cells, and that can affect your immune health.
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High blood sugar levels can damage proteins in your body due to a process called glycation, which can speed up body aging and affect how you look and feel.
Fatigue, joint discomfort, poor circulation, vision problems, brain fog and cognition issues are all signs that glycation may be occurring in your body.
Your pancreas produces insulin, the hormone that allows your cells to use sugar to create energy. If the cells in your fat tissue, muscles and liver stop responding and become resistant to the action of insulin, they can no longer use glucose for energy.
Yet, your pancreas continues to pump out insulin and your blood sugar levels rise.
Excess insulin in your body can affect your other hormones, too, potentially leading to a hormone imbalance, and for women, negatively impact ovulation and fertility.
So, what can make you metabolically inflexible?
Eating too many carbs, not getting enough restful sleep, living with too much stress, and even not drinking enough water can lead you to become metabolically unfit.
And so can growing older. Your metabolic rate slows as you age, due to a loss of muscle tissue, changes to your hormones and the natural aging of your metabolic and neurological processes. The human microbiome also changes with age.
Declining muscle strength and reduced physical activity contribute to metabolic dysfunction, too. On the other hand, strength training increases metabolic rate and muscle mass. And that helps you burn more calories.
Using Bitter Foods to Support Your Metabolic Health
As we’ve learned, any organ or tissue in your body with bitter taste receptors may benefit from the intake of bitter foods.
And that includes your digestive system, brain, heart, arteries, muscle, urinary tract, lungs, airways, sinuses, reproductive organs and skin.*
What is it about bitter foods that can provide benefits to so many organs?
Bitter foods, like arugula and kale, activate the many bitter taste receptors in your organs and tissues. From there, your digestive tract, immune health and everywhere you have receptors can potentially benefit.
Traditionally, bitter greens, roots and herbs were brewed into tonics. Consumed after a meal, they help support digestive processes, and provided comforting relief from indigestion.
In Ayurveda – the traditional system of healing practiced in India for more than 3,000 years – bitter foods are believed to have a balancing effect on the body and support regularity.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM, bitter foods promote the health of the heart and small intestine. They’re also thought to help balance conditions in the body caused by ‘heat’ and support normal levels of body fluids.
Likewise, early health care practitioners used bitter foods to strengthen the digestive potential for sweet foods and to support balance.
More recently, studies confirm the ability of bitter foods to promote healthy digestion and enhance nutrient absorption, and even improve your gut microbiome.
Bitter Melon: The Ultimate Ayurvedic Bitter
Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) is not only one of Ayurveda’s most important bitter foods but also a peculiar-looking, yet popular vegetable that’s often used in curry dishes.
Native to Asia, Africa and parts of the Caribbean, bitter melon has a very long history of use in China and in some of the healthiest places on the planet, including “blue zone” Okinawa, Japan.
Resembling a bumpy cucumber on a climbing shrub, bitter melon is loaded with phytochemicals like triterpenoids, polyphenols and flavonoids. And it’s rich in antioxidants that can help protect your cells from free radical damage.*
The riper bitter melon becomes, the more bitter the taste.
The plant’s saponins – a group of natural chemicals – are what gives bitter melon its bitter taste. Saponins possess many properties to protect plants from predators.
In large amounts, saponins can be toxic. However, the amounts found in bitter melon extract are supportive to health.*
Other active ingredients in bitter melon that play important roles in supporting your glucose metabolism include saponins, known as charantins, peptides and alkaloids.
What the Science Reveals About Bitter Melon Extracts
Research shows whole-fruit extracts of bitter melon support…
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Your body’s healthy response to sugar in your diet.*
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Cardiovascular health through its effects on your body’s fat metabolism.*
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Your body’s blood sugar and cholesterol levels already within normal range.*
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The normal health and lifespan of your pancreas’ hormone-producing beta cells.*
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The optimal reduction of fatty acids retained in your body, making it easier to metabolize fat deposits.*
Introducing Biothin® Bitter Melon and Goldenseal for Your Metabolic Well-Being
Our Biothin® Bitter Melon and Goldenseal combines both Organic Bitter Melon Fruit Extract and Organic Goldenseal Root Extract, standardized to its Berberine content, in convenient capsule form.
Here’s what makes Biothin® Bitter Melon and Goldenseal, a rare combination designed to support metabolic health, unique when compared to other products:
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Includes both Bitter Melon and Goldenseal, so you receive the synergistic benefits of both botanicals
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Unlike some other goldenseal supplements, our material is Botanical ID tested to verify the species
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Provides 25 mg of Berberine, and our product is tested for Berberine to verify our label claim
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Made without chemical additives,
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Contains no magnesium stearate
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Packed in vegetarian capsules
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Contains no gluten, soy or GMOs
For best results, we recommend taking two capsules of Biothin® Bitter Melon and Goldenseal twice daily after meals.
So, why did we include goldenseal in our bitter melon formula, you may be wondering?
One of the prominent active ingredients in goldenseal – berberine – another very bitter plant substance, activates your bitter taste receptors much like bitter melon, especially the T2Rs in your small intestine.
Let’s find out more about it…
Goldenseal and Its Bitter-Tasting Alkaloid Berberine
Goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis, also known as yellow root, is a perennial herb in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. The plant produces raspberry-like fruit.
The roots of goldenseal were used by Native Americans as a dye for clothing and for treating various health concerns. It’s also been used by Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners.
Goldenseal root contains a valuable yellow-colored, bitter-tasting alkaloid called berberine, as well as hydrastine and canadine.
One challenge with growing goldenseal is that it is a slow-growing plant, as its roots are only harvested three to five years after growth.
Because of this slow growth, it is easily contaminated with other herbs, such as barberry and Oregon grape, which also contain berberine.
While that may sound ideal, these contaminated products may not contain goldenseal and its important active components hydrastine and canadine.
Goldenseal is also a highly adulterated material – for other reasons. It’s often contaminated with other, lower quality materials to spike its berberine content.
That’s why Botanical ID testing is so important when it comes to goldenseal – to ensure you are getting the real thing with all three of its active components.
This advanced, cutting-edge technology precisely identifies ingredients as well as contaminants and other substances that should not be in the botanical.
How Goldenseal and Berberine Work Synergistically
Berberine possesses many unique qualities and acts synergistically with the flavonoids in goldenseal.
Inside every cell in your body is an enzyme called adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, or AMPK. Because of its positive effects on your metabolism, it’s called the “metabolic master switch.”
This “switch” tells your cells when to store fat and when to burn fat stores for energy.
When AMPK is activated, fat burning turns on in the mitochondria – your cells’ power centers – and fat accumulation stops.
However, as you grow older, AMPK activation in your cells decreases, making it more difficult for you to maintain a healthy weight.
Berberine is one of the few known substances that can activate AMPK. Through its powerful action, the berberine in goldenseal can help support your metabolic health.*
The activation of AMPK supports many different functions, including:
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Promoting normal balances of energy, lipids, glucose and insulin.*
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Increasing production of mitochondria.*
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Promoting an already normal inflammatory response.*
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Aiding your body’s response to stressors.*
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Maintaining healthy cells and cellular repair.*
And here’s something else unique about berberine… Studies show that your cells’ mitochondria selectively seek out and store berberine – a clue that it provides valuable benefits to the cell.*
Berberine Can Help You Burn Energy – Instead of Storing It as Fat*
In addition to activating AMPK, berberine inhibits what’s known as PTP1B activity. This action provides important support for healthy normal blood sugar levels.*
Berberine also plays an important role in promoting brown fat activity, as it boosts fat burning in your mitochondria.
Most of the fat in your body is white fat, which stores extra energy. Brown fat, on the other hand, is loaded with mitochondria and breaks down blood sugar, or glucose, and fat molecules to create heat.
By promoting brown fat activity, berberine can help you burn energy instead of storing it as fat, making it ideal for improving metabolism.*
While I don’t recommend using berberine in place of eating a healthy diet or exercising, research does show it supports:
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The release of free fatty acids.*
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Healthy lipid metabolism.*
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Insulin, leptin and adiponectin function for a healthy metabolism.*
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Blood sugar levels already in the normal range.*
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The release of nitric oxide for healthy blood flow.*
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A healthy gut microbiome.*
Revamp Your Metabolic Health with This Revolutionary Metabolic Formula Today
Are you ready to get your metabolic health on track – and see real results?
Biothin® Bitter Melon and Goldenseal provides your body with two bitter botanicals that support metabolic health in at least three important ways…
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It activates your bitter taste receptors (T2Rs) throughout your body, including in your small intestine and belly fat, to influence your gut microbiome, weight management, immune and brain health.*
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It turns on your metabolic switch, and tells your cells to burn fat stores (instead of storing fat) for energy through the activation of AMPK.*
Start reaping the potential benefits of Biothin® Bitter Melon and Goldenseal, and order your supply today.