Alterations in Taste Thresholds in Men with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Association between underweight and taste sensitivity in middle‐ to old‐aged nursing home residents in Sri Lanka: a cross‐sectional study

“…The results of the present study showed a significant association between underweight and high detection threshold for bitter taste in middle‐ to old‐aged Sri Lankan people, even after adjusting for multiple confounding factors and taking into account facilities of the residents. These results agree with those from a cross‐sectional study on 46 American men with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease showing that underweight subjects had a significantly higher recognition threshold for bitter taste than normal‐weight subjects . These results support the hypothesis that low taste sensitivity, especially to bitter taste, may be one factor associated with underweight in developing countries.…”

“…A cross‐sectional study on 89 independently living older people and 67 institutionalised older people in the Netherlands showed no significant association between taste perception and BMI . On the other hand, another cross‐sectional study in the United States on 46 men with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease showed that underweight subjects had a significantly higher bitter taste threshold than normal‐weight subjects . It is difficult to generalise the results of these studies, as the sample size was small and participants were not community‐dwelling people.…”

Effects of age, gender and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on taste acuity

“…We have previously reported the result of these COPD participants in an analysis of normal versus underweight men with COPD (Chapman-Novakokski et al 1999). Limitations of that study included lack of a control group (subjects without COPD) and a limited age range.…”

“…Data from one older subject were dropped because he failed to finish all samples. Data from 46 older men who had COPD and who had followed a similar protocol were included in the analysis (Chapman-Novakokski et al 1999).…”

Improvement in taste sensitivity following pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

“…Three taste thresholds (salty, sweet and bitter) were significantly lower at the end of the PR programme than at the beginning. An earlier study reported that bitter recognition thresholds were significantly higher for underweight subjects with COPD than for normal-weight subjects (27). There was also a statistical correlation between low body weight and morbidity and mortality.…”