Some people may experience a lower sensitivity to taste under certain conditions. For instance, researchers and doctors often claim that smokers have a decreased sense of taste as a result of their nicotine use. The widespread claim is that tobacco acts as an inhibitor of taste receptors and decreases the perception of taste on the taste buds, causing a higher threshold for taste than that of non-tobacco users. In fact, many smokers who become non-smokers claim that they are able to taste foods much better than before they kicked the habit. I’ve heard this often from ex-smokers as one of the benefits of smoking cessation. Are non-smokers able to taste food better than smokers as the myth claims? Studies investigating this subject indicate that there is actually no taste sensitivity differences between those who use tobacco and those who do not (Kahn, 2003). One study indicates that nicotine causes a rise in blood sugar which lowers a tobacco users preference for sweet foods (Redington, 1983). The study also suggests that perhaps this disregard for sweets is one reason why smokers typically have a lower body weight than non-smokers. This can also explain why smokers tend to gain weight after quitting smoking.
Elizabeth Brothers
Links to research articles:
Khan, G.J., Mehmood, R., 2003. Effects of long-term use of tobacco on taste receptors and salivary secretion. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15067831
Redington, K., 1983. Taste differences between cigarette smokers and nonsmokers. Pharmacology Biochemisty and Behavior, 21, 203-208. doi: 0091-3057/84
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