Tortured Tastes

What tastes like ambrosia to one man, observed the ancients, may sit like ashes on the tongue of another. Now modern medicine has discovered that a single tongue can be just as unpredictable --if its unfortunate owner suffers from idiopathic hypogeusia.* The newly identified ailment, described by National Institutes of Health researchers in the Journal of the American Medical Association, attacks the senses of taste and smell to the point that the patients may become unable to detect all but the strongest flavors or aromas. In severe cases, a victim's favorite food odors may become offensive to him.

The NIH team became interested in the condition when baffled private physicians began referring individual patients to neurologists. The Government scientists studied 35 of the 3,000 Americans known to suffer from idiopathic hypogeusia. The doctors confirmed the symptoms by placing drops of sour, sweet, salt and bitter solutions on the subjects' tongues and holding solutions smelling like onions or burned rubber under their noses. The NIH researchers were puzzled as to the cause of the condition but decided that it does not appear to be psychosomatic. At least half of the patients developed their symptoms following influenza-like illnesses. Others began to suffer from the disability after undergoing surgery unrelated to the nose, mouth or throat. None had readily observable abnormalities of the sensory organs. But Dr. Robert Henkin reported that when taste buds were examined with an electron microscope, marked cellular anomalies were noted.

Partial Relief. Those complaining of loss of the sense of taste said that eating was like chewing and swallowing flour paste or sawdust. Those suffering from loss of the sense of smell reported that they were unable to detect the aroma of foods or the odors of smoke or escaping cooking gas. Several women reported that they had served rancid foods to their families because they did not notice the spoilage.

In cases where both taste and smell were affected, the patients suffered more intensely. A 48-year-old professional soldier who developed hypogeusia following an intestinal operation found himself unable to stand the taste or smell of most foods. A 53-year-old pizza maker said that many foods "smelled or tasted like manure or decayed garbage." He had to quit his job and limit himself to a bland diet. Some victims became so depressed that they contemplated suicide.

Doctors cannot as yet offer a cure, but they can provide some relief from the most severe symptoms. Zinc sulfate capsules diminish the disease's sensory distortion. Why the metallic medicine helps is uncertain, but it can make eating tolerable, if not pleasurable.

* Idiopathic means of unknown or spontaneous origin; hypogeusia means diminished taste acuity.

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