Taste: It’s Not Them, It’s You
The city has always been a prime dining destination for foodies to gather and take a bite out of what the Big Apple has to offer... but have you noticed that the bite you just took isn’t quite the same? Why do the delicious snack foods you used to inhale like no tomorrow taste chalky or bland? Maybe it’s due to a change in the recipe, or perhaps you got a nasty batch. But if this diminished taste is occurring with other foods then I have some bad news: it’s not them, it’s you.
By definition, taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor cells located on taste buds in the oral cavity, mostly on the tongue. As you get older, you may find that food doesn't taste quite as good as it used to and it can be much harder for you to recognize food profiles and other flavors that used to excite your palate. This loss of taste condition, known as gustatory dysfunction, is said to be related to the normal ageing process. However, as reported in many cases, what is perceived as a taste defect is truly a primary defect in olfaction: a chemoreception that, through the sensory olfactory system, forms the perception of smell. Olfaction and gustatory processes are coupled. While taste and smell are separate senses they are intimately entwined. Tastants, chemicals in foods, are detected by taste buds, which consist of special sensory cells. When these are stimulated, cells send signals to specific areas of the brain, making us conscious of the perception of taste. In a similar process, specialized cells in the nose pick up odorants, airborne odor molecules. Odorants stimulate receptor proteins found on hairlike cilia at the tips of the sensory cells, triggering a neural response. Ultimately, messages about taste and smell will come together and allow us to detect the flavors of food.
Day to day we become irritated by even the smallest of smells: a whiff of sidewalk trash or garlic breath after a meal. Conversely, we rave on about the best of smells: the aroma of coffee in the air at a Starbucks or just the simpleness of plain, fresh air by the water. But then that’s it, we move on with the rest of the day not paying any mind to our noses until they are offended or flattered, respectively. We take this sense of smell for granted until we no longer have it. Decreased smell function is a contributory factor in the age related increases in accidental fatalities. You can’t avoid what you can’t smell, and this really rings true in the unfortunate case of a gas leak or a fire underway. Decreased smell and taste is said to also result in appetite suppression resulting in weight loss, malnutrition, impaired immunity, and deterioration in medical conditions. Other than smell dysfunction, the most frequent causes of taste dysfunction are prior upper respiratory infection, head injury, drug use, and idiopathic causes. Chewing problems associated with tooth loss and dentures can also interfere with taste sensations, along with the reduction of saliva production. There are reports that some women can start to lose their taste buds in their 40s. For men, the change can happen in their 50s. The taste buds that are currently in your mouth will shrink and become less sensitive with time. Salty and sweet flavors tend to weaken first, followed by the eventual loss of bitter or sour.
With all of that in mind, I encourage those of you who still have the fullness of these two senses to wake up and smell the coffee, and to (responsibly) enjoy all the foods and drinks of the world while you are still able to.
References:
Boyce JM, Shone GREffects of ageing on smell and taste. Postgraduate Medical Journal 2006.
Jr., Alfred D. Wyatt. “Change in Sense of Taste: 5 Possible Reasons Things Taste Differently.” WebMD. WebMD, February 2, 2018.
