Decline of Taste

The sense of taste is a chemical reaction which occurs in the minute tulip-shaped clusters of cells scattered thinly and irregularly over the tongue. There are a few "taste buds" elsewhere in the mouth, some even on the tonsils. Each bud distinguishes one of four tastes: sour, sweet, bitter, salt. Babies are born fully outfitted with taste buds--about 245.

Last week the Anatomical Record was preparing to publish a report from three Northwestern University anatomists showing that complaints of old people about insipid food are not necessarily crotchety imaginings. Professor Leslie Brainerd Arey and his co-workers counted 58,297 taste buds on a number of tongues, the owners of which ranged from infants to octogenarians. In general there was a marked decrease in the number of taste buds after middle age. In some very old tongues there were no buds at all.

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