Why Food Doesn’t Taste Right

Food may not taste right because there is something wrong with the food itself. Or, on the other hand, food may not taste right because there is something going on with you.

If you’ve made a determination that your issue is not the quality of the food, then you may want to consider if something is going on with your sense of taste and/or smell. Having a taste disorder is serious.

Taste helps you discover when food/beverages are spoiled or spoiling, or determine the presence of food you are allergic to. This loss can lead to depression or reduce your desire to eat. Inability to taste could even be a signal for disease or an unhealthy condition.

Taste belongs to your chemical sensing system and starts when tiny molecules released by a food stimulates special cells in your nose, mouth, or throat, which then transmits messages to your brain for identification.

The taste sensations of sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami are the most common. When present in your mouth, these tastes, along with texture and temperature, combine with odors for perception of flavor.

It is actually flavor that lets you know what you are eating. Flavors are recognized mainly through your sense of smell, and not taste. Plug your nose, eat something and you will have trouble identifying its flavor. That is because the distinguishing characteristic is sensed largely by its odor.

The most common taste complaint is phantom taste perceptions. Loss of taste can also be caused by:

  • some surgeries
  • some medicines
  • oral health problems
  • exposure to certain chemicals such as insecticides

Some disorders of the chemical senses may misread, distort an odor, a taste, or a flavor, or a person may detect a foul taste from a substance that is normally pleasant tasting.

If your sense of taste runs afoul get it checked out by your health care professional. You need food to live, and loss of desire for it, or ability to detect its potential harm, is dangerous to your well-being.

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