Physical growth and development, neurological maturation, and behavioral functioning in two Ecuadorian Andean communities in which goiter is endemic. II. PTC Taste sensitivity and neurological maturation

PTC (phenylthiocarbamide) taste sensitivity was correlated with a measure of visual‐motor maturation in children six to 15 years of age in two Ecuadorian Andean communities in which goiter (enlargement of the thyroid gland) and cretinism are endemic. The children in one population received injections of iodine in oil IM in 1966 while the children in the other population did not. The correlations between PTC taste sensitivity and visual‐motor maturation were significant in both sex groups in the non‐iodized population, but not in the iodized population. There was also a significant increase in taste sensitivity with age in the non‐iodized, but not the iodized, population. The data support the hypothesis that the sensitive “tasters” of PTC limit their ingestion of naturally occurring goitrogens and are at an adaptive advantage with respect to the less sensitive “tasters” and “non‐tasters” in this area in which iodine intake is low and the consumption of food crops containing naturally occurring goitrogens is high.