Development of a taste rehabilitation method to improve taste sensitivity

Dr. Yuta Otsubo, along with his colleagues at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Toho University, reported that a taste rehabilitation method developed by their group improved taste sensitivity in healthy subjects. This research is expected to establish the taste rehabilitation method as a new treatment for patients with taste disorders. The results of this research were published in Scientific Reports on August 16, 2022.

Key Points:

In a study of healthy subjects, taste rehabilitation methods were shown to be effective in improving taste sensitivity.
This study was the first in the world to verify and report the effect of taste rehabilitation methods.
The taste rehabilitation method will be established as a treatment method for patients with taste disorders, such as those that result from COVID-19 infection.

Summary:
The number of patients with taste disorder has been increasing as the population ages. In addition, some patients acquire residual taste disorder after COVID-19 infection; therefore, the number of patients with taste disorder will likely increase worldwide. No clear treatment for taste disorder currently exists. In response to this lack of information, the research group devised a new treatment method, taste rehabilitation, and verified its effectiveness in healthy subjects. The results showed that taste sensitivity improved and that the patients were able to recognize tastes of lighter density. Based on these results, the taste rehabilitation method is expected to be established as a new treatment method for taste disorders.

Journal :
Scientific Reports August 16, 2022 issue

Title:
Improving Taste Sensitivity in Healthy Adults Using Taste Recall Training: a randomized controlled trial

Authors:
Yuta Otsubo, Midori Miyagi, Hideki Sekiya, Osamu Kano, Satoru Ebihara

DOI number:
10.1038/s41598-022-18255-z

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