Why does medicine taste bad?

Sick little boy lying in bed making a face at his mother. The mother is giving a spoon of medicine to the boy. The boy hates the medicine and makes a disgusted face.

​​For something curative and healing, most medicines have a surprisingly noxious taste. From bitter-tasting syrups to the persistent metallic aftertaste of certain tablets, why do many of our best treatments taste so bad — and how much does this actually matter?

The majority of modern drugs were developed from or inspired by compounds found in nature, particularly in static species such as plants and marine invertebrates like sponges and corals.