In This Issue:

1. The Risks of Losing the Sense of Taste and/or Smell
2. What Causes Changes in Taste?
3. In Poor Taste: Stinky Stuff Can Affect Taste
4. Life Style Sensitivity Affects Your Taste Awareness
5.  When Taste Buds Are "Duds"
6. The Bitter Results of Flavor Loss
7. Food Presentation
8. How to Make Food More Appealing

Great Tastes and Smells is SAFE Aging's topic of the month. Taste and smells are protective, and together make food interesting and desirable. This issue is for anyone who has noticed changes in taste and smell affecting appetite; people who have medical conditions, take medications, are on chemotherapy, radiation whose taste awareness and ability to smell have changed; and interested caregivers or service providers.

1. The Risks of Losing the Sense of Taste and/or Smell

Losing the senses of taste and/or smell can have devastating affects on health and wellness. Such losses should be taken quite seriously and should not be thought of as a normal consequence of aging. Losing these two senses can be the start of the "fall of a house of cards", starting with

• Foods and liquids don't taste so good

• Appetite changes (eat less/weight loss or eat more/weight gain), malnutrition

• Lowering in the body's immune system

• Lack of interest in others and surroundings (food is a social part of life)

• Change in mental status (Food is our fuel)

• Death can eventually happen when the body does not get enough food or beverages

Ø Back to Top

2. What Causes Changes in Taste?

Usually changes in taste are accompanied by changes in smell. The two complement each other. Without smell, it is very difficult to taste any food.

There are many different causes for changes in flavor awareness or taste. If you notice changes in either sense, mention the changes to your doctor.

Here is a list of some conditions that can cause a change in taste (flavor awareness) of food:

Resources: Medline is a terrific resource to learn about any disease or medical condition. Some of the links used to develop the list above included the following Medline links:

• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/bellspalsy.html

• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/sjogrenssyndrome.html

• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/multiplesclerosis.html#cat10

• http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/smelltaste/taste.asp

Ø Back to Top

3. In Poor Taste: Stinky Stuff Can Affect Taste

The world around you can actually affect your taste awareness.

• Exposures to some chemicals, insecticides or solvents can affect taste
• Heavy smoking or exposure to second hand smoke can affect taste

Avoid smoking and stay away from second hand smoke. If you can "taste" chemicals when you are using them to clean, repel bugs, etc, try using another product, or take really good protective measures to avoid inhaling the stuff.

Ø Back to Top

4. Life Style Sensitivity Affects Your Taste Awareness

Did you know?

• Eating too quickly can affect your awareness of taste (This happens simply because you are not focusing your senses on what you are eating),
   
• Eating while distracted (watching TV, reading, care giving, etc.) affects taste
   
• Some medications can change taste awareness
   
• Heavy smoking (bitter nicotine over rides some tastes, plus it also affects receptors in the brain responsible for taste and smell awareness)
   
• Depression can change interest in food and change in flavor awareness

Ø Back to Top

5. When Taste Buds Are "Duds"

When taste buds, located in the mouth, tongue and throat, are "duds", they aren't able to detect flavor differences. Taste buds aren't always complete duds. In fact, taste buds may actually be fine, but the sense of smell may be the cause. In any case, for the purpose of this article's title, when taste is affected, food may have no taste at all (by the way, this is a rare condition ). Or, food may taste

• oddly different (too much of something, too little, weird, un-usual, etc)
• metallic
• dry
• or have a really foul taste

There may also be a "phantom" food taste when nothing is actually in the mouth, but seems like it.

No matter the results, when taste is affected, it can be a serious threat to health and safety.

Importance of Good Taste and Smell

Together good taste awareness and the sense of smell,

1. Protects us from harm. We are able to

• Detect smoke, gases, toxic fumes, chemicals, poisons, etc.
• Detect spoiled foods

2. Keeps us alive. Together, they

• Encourage us to eat nourishing food
• Encourage us to drink beverages that taste good

What Causes Changes in Taste?

Changes in taste can be caused by

Medical Conditions that Affect Appetite

As you can see in the list above, there are many different medical conditions that can and do have an affect on appetite. Just as there are many different conditions, every person who has such a condition is completely unique. There are no cook book formulas or answers that will work perfectly for each person. Unfortunately, in so many situations, finding the best way to make food appealing to a person who has lost there appetite is often a hit and miss process.  What works for one person, may be a complete gagger for another. Every situation is different.

TIP: Be sure to inform your health care provider of any changes in taste awareness or ability to smell. There are often a wide variety of options that can be offered or devised to improve the ability or desire to eat. There are also creative ways to compensate for some changes that happen. Working with Nutritionists and rehabilitation therapists can be life changing.

Ø Back to Top

6. The Bitter Results of Flavor Loss

Here are some examples of why loss of taste and/or smell can threaten health and wellness:

• Add more salt to food (This can increase blood pressure over time)
• Avoid eating anything (Food is a basic requirement to live)
• Become forgetful (Can't be forgetful and live alone due to safety)
• Dental conditions develop (This can also lead to heart conditions, too)
• Depression
• Develop headaches (Dehydration can cause headaches pretty quickly)
• Drink less fluids (See above)
• Eat less (Eventually lose too much weight)
• Eat foods with more sweeteners (Not good if you have diabetes)
• Fatigue happens (Not good for health or wellness)
• Get less essential vitamins or nutrients (See above)
• Have more aches and pains (Who needs this?)
• Lack of interest in social activities involving food (See above)
• Less activity (Not good for bones, muscles, heart, lungs, or brain)
• Lose concentration
• Skip meals
• Social isolation
• Tooth decay
• Weight gain
• Weight loss

Will Lost Taste Return?

Often, taste will return. Here are some common scenarios:

• After injuries have healed
• After medications are changed, adjusted or finished;
• After exposures to chemicals, insecticides or solvents have been eliminated;
• After surgeries or medical procedures have healed
• After chemotherapy is over

Medications That Could Affect Taste

Some medications can affect taste. They can generally be found in these categories of medications.

• Antibiotics
• Antidepressants
• Blood Pressure
• Medications to lower anxiety or cholesterol

TIP: Be sure to inform the doctor of side effects such as metallic tastes in the mouth, dry mouth, drooling, facial numbness, changes in movement of the tongue that affect swallowing, decline in the desire to drink fluids, or any changes in the ability to taste food. There might be some other options your doctor could choose that would work equally as well without side effects.

CAUTION: Don't stop taking your prescribed medications until your doctor tells you to do so.

Ø Back to Top

7. Food Presentation

Appearance
To really enjoy food, a really pretty visual presentation is helpful. It affects what we think about the food. How we see food makes a difference in whether we decide to eat the food. The food should look good. Our eyes should like what we see. There should be a nice rainbow of colors on a plate. The amount should look right. It should make us feel happy to have it. No kidding! For instance, imagine a dinner plate with a lovely

• Orange sweet potato dusted with cinnamon and a touch of cloves
   
• Beautiful green spinach with a sprinkle of garlic, olive oil, and a pinch of shredded parmesan cheese and hand ground pepper
   
• Tender filet of chicken, delicately sautéed in a white wine and lemon sauce, with Portobello mushrooms, then garnished with a cherry tomato.

Can't you just see it now? How pretty is that? Are you ready to dive in?

Aroma
The next element is the smell. If food has a delightful aroma, it passes the sniff test. What makes the food smell so good? Is it the food itself, such as the smell of an apple, or a ripe peach freshly picked from an orchard tree? Is it due to added spices, and other ingredients? Is it the combination of everything? Is it pleasant memories? It may be all of the above, and it may all be extremely personal.

Temperature
Temperature of food can make food taste better or worse. Heat often brings out the best flavors, but, this of course would not be true with ice cream. Temperature can also make food easier or harder to swallow. Temperature affects the muscles that make swallowing happen. Sometimes, ice cold foods make swallowing very difficult, and often, the exact opposite is true.

TIP: If swallowing is a problem, let your doctor know. There are health care professionals, including occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists, who are specially trained and able to help people who have swallowing challenges. This can make a huge difference in the quality of life for anyone who has difficulty swallowing food. For help, talk to your doctor or refer to www.aota.org or www.asha.org.

Texture

Food texture is another sensory element that affects taste and the desire to eat. For instance, beautiful but stringy green beans may cause choking. The tongue feels a gag coming on and the brain says, "I might choke, I don't like that stringy feeling." That’s the end of those beautiful, string beans. Food textures are very much a matter of personal preference.

CAREGIVER TIPS: When preparing meals for someone else, be sure to ask the person, how they like to eat the foods you are preparing for them. Never assume his or her tastes are the same as yours. Food textures and preferences can make the difference between making a food palatable or not, and they are highly personal. If your task is to assure a person is getting adequate nutrition, this simple tip can make a big difference.

Ø Back to Top

8. How to Make Food More Appealing

Appearance

1. Always begin planning a meal with the idea of "presentation".

2. Paint a lovely picture in your mind of the prettiest food you can imagine.

3. Think of the dinner plate as an artist's palette.

4. Choose a pretty color combination of food.

5. Think RAINBOW of colors because colors mean vitamins and nutrients.

6. Add a garnish that looks pretty, or smells good, or brings back fond memories (a flower, or even a picture of a loved one is OK!).

Taste

1. Rinse mouth with water before eating.

2. Use plenty of bold spices to spruce up meats and vegetables.

3. Other good spices include cilantro, cumin, marjoram.

4. Add citrus or marinades to meats.

5. If necessary, eat smaller amounts of food throughout the day.

6. Use plastic utensil if metallic taste is a complaint.

7. Make meal time a fun time. Share memories, play music, discuss a book, etc. Make it a leisurely experience.

8. Never hurry through the meal

Other Flavor Boosters

• Bacon “bits”

• Bouillon cubes (low salt)

• Butter-flavored seasoning

• Cheese-flavored seasoning

• Garlic-flavored seasoning

• Maple extract, vanilla extract, fruit extracts, etc.

The Sweet Truth about Eating

Eating is a basic and essential requirement of daily life. Eating should be fun, pleasant, and interesting. If eating is becoming a chore, or is becoming less of a focus, take steps now to

1. Talk to your doctor, if you haven't already

2. Add some bold new flavors and spices to your cooking

3. Need ideas, ask help from a nutritionist

4. Want some Internet sources? Here are some terrific ones!

9. Internet Resources

Nutrition for Seniors: This is a really interesting and informative site, offering many topics about senior nutrition.

Good Nutrition: It’s a Way of Life: Age Page

Seniors Need Wisdom On Food Handling: This is a terrific article for anyone interested in safe food handling temperatures. It works for me, and is relevant to anyone who cooks or eats.

Ø Back to Top

Enjoy our newsletter?

Then get it delivered to your inbox every month, for free!

Simply visit any page on our website (www.safeaging.com) and enter your email address in the "Join Our Mailing List" sign up box. It's that easy!  SAFE Aging will never share your information with other companies--confidentiality is assured. Refer your friends, families, and associates too!

Ø Back to Top

Wherever You Go! 
Carry Your Medical & Emergency Info!
www.MedicTag911.com

MedicTag is a portable digital medical alert device that plugs into a computer or laptop USB port and provides instant access to vital emergency info when needed the most.

ONLY $34.95 + s/h

No annual fees!

Ø Back to Top

Article Submissions

We invite interested authors to submit theme based articles for the SAFE Aging newsletter. Please send submissions in either .doc or .rtf format, Arial 10pt. font, and with a 300 word maximum. Articles should be written in an easy to read format to meet the needs of a varied readership including seniors, family members of seniors, caregivers and other senior service providers.  

Topics should in some way be related to health, safety or injury prevention. Articles may not be an advertisement for services and must be informative or helpful. Author photo and contact information may be included. 

There is no guarantee that submitted articles will be published. Generally, articles will be held until the appropriate monthly theme. All articles become the property of SAFE Aging and are subject to editing.

We now have advertising opportunities based on monthly, semi-annual or annual advertising rates. Please contact newsletter@safeaging.com for details.

Ø Back to Top