Taste disorders in Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children

Taste dysfunction in children - a clinical perspective and review of assessment methods

Taste dysfunction has been associated with aging and is therefore thought to be less common in children. However, children can face medical conditions influencing their taste function. Measuring and understanding taste dysfunction in children may foster the development of treatments/interventions mitigating the detrimental effects of taste dysfunction on children's appetite and quality of life. But measuring loss of taste function requires adequate tools. This review was conducted to (1) provide an overview of etiologies (i.e., disease and iatrogenic) associated with taste dysfunction in a pediatric population; (2) to investigate which tools (psychophysical tests and questionnaires) are available to assess taste function in children; and (3) to identify what tools can be and are actually used in clinical practice. It is concluded that only a minority of available tools to assess taste function in children are readily suitable for a pediatric clinical setting. Considering the profound impact of taste dysfunction in the pediatric setting, developing and implementing a standard taste test that is sensitive, simple, and practical to use with children is pertinent.

Taste-Elicited Activity in Facial Muscle Regions in 5-8-Week-Old Infants

The state of development of the sense of taste in humans during the first few months of life is only partially understood. Since taste plays a critical role in the feeding and nutrition of infants a better understanding of taste development during early life is required. Currently, information about the sense of taste in pre-verbal infants is obtained by analysis of videotaped facial expressions using the Baby FACS coding system. A potentially more objective faster procedure for assessing facial expressions not investigated in infants is electromyography (EMG). The method has been successfully used to study taste-elicited responses in the mid-face muscle regions of the levator labii and zygomaticus major of 6-9-year-olds and in a range of facial muscle regions in adults. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate taste in young infants using EMG to 1) measure activity simultaneously in 4 facial muscle regions in response to 3 common tastants and 2) determine whether the activities of one or more muscle regions is needed to provide evidence of perception of a tastant by an infant. The results indicated that multiple facial muscle regions responded simultaneously but differentially to non-sweet and sweet tastants and recordings of activities from 3 or 4 regions simultaneously indicated that almost 100% of infants responded to the unpleasant tastes of quinine and citric acid, and 80% to sucrose.

Reduced taste function and taste papillae density in children with chronic kidney disease

BACKGROUND

Taste loss may contribute to the loss of appetite in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and other serious medical conditions that result in malnutrition. Traditional methods for measurement of taste loss commonly use aqueous tastant solutions that can induce nausea, vomiting, or even pain in the mouth. An alternative is to measure fungiform papillae density on the anterior tongue since this correlates with taste sensitivity. Here we aimed to develop a non-invasive method for assessing papillae density on the anterior tongue and to use the method to determine if CKD patients [estimated glomerular filtrate (eGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2))] have a lower density than clinical controls (CC)(eGFR > 89 ml/min/1.73 m(2)).

METHODS

Thirty-five healthy adults participated in the development of a method, which was assessed by 24 children, 12 of whom were CKD patients and 12 were clinical controls.

RESULTS

Similar papillae densities were found using invasive and non-invasive methods (F(1,34) = 0.647, p = 0.427). The CKD group had a significantly lower papillae density (X(2) = 7.17, p = 0.007) and poorer taste sensitivity than the CC group (p = 0.0272), and the density correlated significantly with eGFR (r = 0.56, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Loss of taste in children with CKD is due to the reduced number of papillae and their taste-sensing receptor cells.

Quantitative evaluation of taste in childhood populations: a systematic review

Introduction

Taste is of great importance for the feeding process. Seen in this light, it is essential to investigate this sense in children as developing human beings. However, despite little variation in the use of tests that measure the gustatory capacity, there are still questions about the applicability and effective use of tools for quantitative assessment in children.

Objective

To search the literature on quantitative instruments used for the evaluation of taste used in studies with children.

Methods

A search was conducted in the PUBMED and Web of Science platforms, and subsequently, the identified articles were selected and reviewed. The descriptors and terms used were “taste,” “child,” “assessment,” “diagnosis,” and “dysgeusia”. Original articles related to the theme in English, restricted to children and with no year limitation, were selected. Studies conducted in other stages of human development, exclusively or concurrently with the pediatric population; animal studies; literature review articles; dissertations and book chapters; and case studies and editorials were excluded. The data analysis was performed through a cataloging protocol created for this study, including the following points: author, research department, year, location, population/sample, age, purpose of the study, methods, and primary results.

Results

5613 items were found. 5307 were excluded based on title, 248 by abstract analysis, and 43 by full text evaluation. Fifteen articles were selected for analysis; of these, six were repeated articles, and thus nine articles were selected for review.

Conclusion

The tests aiming at evaluation of taste were judiciously used, ensuring reliability for future research, which may employ methods similar to previous studies.

Taste and smell dysfunction in childhood cancer survivors

INTRODUCTION

Reduced or altered taste and smell function may occur as a side-effect of cancer therapy. This can lead to altered nutrient and energy intake. Some studies have suggested that taste and smell dysfunction can persist many years after treatment completion but this has not been previously assessed in survivors of childhood cancer. The aim of this study is to determine if taste and smell dysfunction is present in childhood cancer survivors (CCS). Food preference and Quality of Life was also assessed.

METHODS

Fifty-one child cancer survivors (mean age: 19.69±7.09years), more than five years since treatment completion, (mean: 12.4years) were recruited from the long term follow-up clinics at two Sydney-based children's hospitals. Taste function was assessed using a 25 sample taste identification test comprising five concentrations each of sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes and water. Smell function was assessed by determining the ability of participants to identify 16 common odorants. The participants' Quality of Life was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Anorexia Cachexia scale and food preferences were assessed using a 94-item food liking tool.

RESULTS

Taste dysfunction was found in 27.5% of participants (n=14), and smell dysfunction in 3.9% (n=2) of participants. The prevalence of taste dysfunction was higher than that seen in the non-cancer population. The child cancer survivors' appeared to "like" the less healthy food groups such as flavoured beverages, takeaway and snacks over healthier food groups such as vegetables and salad. No correlation was found between those with a taste dysfunction and their food "likes".

CONCLUSION

A high level of taste dysfunction was found in CCS though there did not appear to be an issue with smell dysfunction. Further work is also needed to assess whether a taste dysfunction do play a role in the dietary habits of CCS.