Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Taste and Smell Disorders
Our senses of taste and smell give us great pleasure. Taste helps us enjoy food and beverages. Smell lets us enjoy the scents and fragrances like roses or coffee. Taste and smell also protect us, letting us know when food has gone bad or when there is a gas leak. They make us want to eat, ensuring we get the nutrition we need.
People with taste disorders may taste things that aren't there, may not be able to tell the difference in tastes, or can't taste at all. People with smell disorders may lose their sense of smell, or things may smell different. A smell they once enjoyed may now smell bad to them.
Many illnesses and injuries can cause taste and smell disorders, including colds and head injuries. Some drugs can also affect taste and smell. Most people lose some ability to taste and smell as they get older. Treatment varies, depending on the problem and its cause.
It sits within Older Adults, Ear, Nose and Throat and Mouth and Teeth.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Taste and Smell Disorders
66 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Mechanisms Underlying Individual Variations of Taste and Smell in ObesityNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
- A Study of Taste- and Olfactory-Evoked Potentials in Patients With Visual Impairment: Taste, Smell, and VisionCentre Hospitalier Universitaire Dijon
- Individual Variations of Taste and Smell Perception in Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
- Collection of Clinical Data and Specimens for Research in Hearing, Balance, Taste, Smell, Voice, Speech, and Language Disorders.National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
- Personalized Cooking and Nutrition Guidance and Physical Activities Program to Reduce Muscle Loss in Advanced CancerGali Perel
- Adaptation Strategies for Coping With the Impact of Sensory Alterations on Eating Behavior in Children With Cancer: A Qualitative Study From the Perspective of Children and ParentsCentre Leon Berard
Research already completed
- Ultramicronized Palmitoylethanolamide for Smell, Taste in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli
- The Effects of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists on Chemosensory Function and Ingestive BehaviorPurdue University
- Mucosal and Nasal Involvement and Their Correlation With Smell and Taste Functions in Lichen Planus PatientsIstanbul Training and Research Hospital
- Post-Covid-19 Patients Follow-up StudyUniversity of Oslo
- Multimodal Chewing Gum Flavour Training to Aid Flavour Perception Recovery - a Pilot Study.University of Nottingham
- Sensory Evaluation of Taste and Smell in OncologyHospices Civils de Lyon
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Smell and Taste DisordersJohns Hopkins Medicine
- Smell DisordersNational Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
- Taste DisordersNational Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Genetics
- Bosma arhinia microphthalmia syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Kallmann syndrome: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Refsum disease: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
Statistics and Research
- Quick Statistics about Taste and SmellNational Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: DysgeusiaNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Olfaction DisordersNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Taste DisordersNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Taste PerceptionNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Taste Disorders, Taste Perception, Olfaction Disorders. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Taste and Smell Disorders, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.