Are any of you noticing changes in how thing taste? (years, restaurant)
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You can only taste 4 things: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. There are receptors on your tongue for them. Bitter is at the back of your tongue- that kept cavemen from eating things they shouldn't. Recently, umami, has been added. It has been described as brothy or meaty.
People taste umami through taste receptors specific to glutamate. Glutamate is found in foods, such as meat broths and fermented products, and MSG. Since umami has its own receptors rather than arising out of a combination of the traditionally recognized taste receptors (sweet, salty, sour and bitter), scientists now consider umami to be a distinct taste.
Other "taste" receptors are in your nose/ sinuses. These pick up aerosolized molecules from food. That's why when you have a head cold/ congestion, food tastes" off" and is unappealing. Taste and smell will decrease slightly with age (as does hearing and sight). That is why you will hear seniors say that food doesn't taste good any more, or blame you for not "making it right".
Many things can affect your taste, including smoking, exposed to formaldehyde, benzene and paint solvents, and even having mouth infections, such as gingivitis, oral herpes outbreak, oral yeast infection and periodontitis. Using dentures can also at times affect your sense of taste.
There are literally hundreds of medications (you can google the info) that can affect taste.
Prescription medications probably cause most problems with taste. These medicines include antidepressants, anti-inflammatory agents, decongestants, muscle relaxants, medications for high blood pressure, antibiotics and lipid-lowering medicines.
Talk to your doctor, or get info on-line. You may also try adding more seasonings to food.
I can't stand the taste of our local water, so I use a filter pitcher. I still hate the taste.
I used to like a cold diet Coke, but now I don't like them nearly as much, which is just as well. A cold one on a hot day is still good. I've basically lost my taste for diet soda.
I am 70. I wonder how old you are?
Any others out there who are older--is it going to get worse?
Older people often lose their sense of taste. From what I've learned, older people are often deficient in zinc and that's what causes the loss of taste. So, if it's zinc deficiency, yes, it probably will get worse if not treated. This link has some more information about it and what else might cause it:
Zinc deficiency turned out to be the cause of dh's restless leg syndrome. The dr gave him some horrible prescription with scary side effects but then we experimented and found a better solution. Zinc! He gets it at CVS--the pharmacist told him that their chelated zinc would work best. He takes one or two without food before bedtime. His legs used to get so bad that he'd have to pull over when he was driving and take his zinc. Now that he takes it every night, he never gets those leg problems at all.
I don't have any symptoms but every once in a while I'll take one of dh's zinc tablets just to be on the safe side. There's no reliable medical test for it so I'm just guessing and trying to play it safe. Neither of us have loss of appetite or noticing things have a different taste.
I take a few meds, but nothing exotic. I take niacin and fenobrate. I also take a daily antihistamine. Could those be the problem?
Do you use Flonase?
I used it for a month to open up my left ear. But it changed the taste of nearly everything I ate. Meat tasted (and smelled) rotten. Even my breath smelled bad to me even though other people were telling me it was OK.
Things went back to normal a week after I discontinued it. But now my left ear is blocked again...
An excessive sweet taste is a reason for a doctor's office visit to check for diabetes! There are plenty of other possible reasons but diabetes is a common cause.
I have noticed a change, but only in commercial foods. I raise most of what we eat, including eggs, poultry and pork. For sure, all the veggies and fruits. If I eat out in a restaurant, or if the wife buys canned goods from the grocery store, I definitely notice the salt, and sometimes the sugar. I think it is due to being spoiled by my own home-grown, unadulterated foods.
I am 60 and suffered an infection in my 20's which permanently reduced my sense of smell to about 30% of normal. Everything tasted the same, only faint, like setting the radio volume too low (you can tell the tune, but not make out the words).
That said, everything still tastes as it has for the past 35 years, but I am more sensitive now to sweet and salt in processed and restaurant foods. This is probably because I have reduced the sugar and salt in home-cooked foods.
Example: I was out with friends and bought a Frappuccino at Starbucks. It was so super-sweet, I could not understand how people can even drink them.
Someone mentioned Old people telling you that "you made the food wrong." That is one of the aspects of aging I would hope to avoid...a lack of insight that causes me to blame others, instead of considering that it might be something amiss with me.
Have read that is severe problem w/people w/dementia and Alzheimer's who lack appetite and refuse to eat at times...
Of course they are often on special diets or in places where food is prepared in unappetizing manner
Good to know about zinc...
My husband has restless leg at times
Takes a daily vitamin...will check for zinc %
Re the person who posted re her husband...was he taking a multi-vitamin?
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