Diet, Diabetes, and Phantom Taste Perception

The seldom-mentioned condition of phantogeusia is actually is a relatively common phenomenon. Phantom bitterness, a “bad taste in the mouth,” is the most common form of phantogeusia. Sometimes the bitterness is due to bleeding from sores in the gums or fissures in the tongue. Blood is bitter, and when the gums or tongue heal, the phantom bitterness disappears. People who drink “bitters,” such as beer, Angostura bitters, or aloe juice, can build up concentrations of bitter compounds in their bloodstream that enter the saliva; discontinuing the bitter drink resolves the phantom bitter taste.

Diabetics are also subject to phantogeusia, but in diabetes it is much more difficult to treat. When a diabetic has a constant bitter taste in the mouth, it is most likely due to diabetic damage to the chorda tympanic nerves of the tongue. This kind of phantom taste only goes away after blood sugars have been maintained at low levels for months or years.

The bad news is, the bitter taste stimulates appetite for sugar, and sugar damages the nerves. Overcoming diabetic phantogeusia requires enduring a long period of impaired taste. Neurological diseases produce phantogeusia of a wide range of tastes and smells. They are usually unpleasant, and the underlying condition must be treated medically.

There is one thing you can do about phantogeusia yourself. Eat foods that hold pleasant memories for you. The names and descriptions we give foods are very important. Researchers have found that at every stage of life, from infancy to old age, our ideas about food are shaped more by the names we give our foods than by the taste, texture, and aroma of the foods themselves. Our taste memories do not rely on the names for foods in a dictionary. Instead they rely on the expanded names of foods from our personal experience, whether it’s “the McDonald’s shake like the one I had that day I had a wonderful time with grandpa,” or “SOS (a euphemism for chipped beef on toast) like we got every day in the Army.”

Serve healthy foods in happy settings, and make sure everyone at the table knows what is being served. If you are attempting to stay or help a family member stay on a healthy diet, use familiar recipes, or at least familiar names, and serve memories when you serve food.