Why Smoking Makes Everything Taste Different

Food is just tasteless for me

Smoking has an impact on the way food tastes and in tests conducted on the average smoker they note food often tastes bland or in some instances downright tasteless.

Smoking has a negative effect on the taste buds in that it makes them less receptive to the different tastes inherent in food. Researchers have identified four basic tastes.

These include bitter, sweet, salty and sour. Non-smokers have no problem distinguishing the difference among the four tastes while smokers often have to work harder to figure out which is which because they are less sensitive to tastes.

Not only can smoking lead to a lesser degree of sensitivity to taste, it can also alter the shape of the taste buds while at the same time leaving their numbers intact.

The bad news continues in this area. The constant exposure to nicotine in the mouth can affect the process known as vascularization which means the formation of blood vessels.

Nicotine and Its Role in Taste Suppression

There are a variety of properties connected to nicotine that may play a significant role in suppressing taste sensations in a smoker. For example, it has been suggested the bitter taste that characterizes nicotine may override other types of taste because it is more potent.

Due to the fact that nicotine brings about an irritating sensation in the mouth, it may render the taste buds less effective at distinguishing one taste from another. In other words, the intensity and strength of the nicotine may overpower the taste buds and cause them to work under their capacity.

It has also been proposed that nicotine travels up into the brain and finds its way to the part of the brain that have to do with eating. The brain houses a selection of feeding centers that are all interconnected because of different tastes. When nicotine arrives in the brain and interferes with the work of the feeding centers it may reduce the effectiveness of the nerve cells and therefore render individual taste sensations to be duller than they are supposed to be.

Cigarettes are composed of a myriad of harmful chemicals but it is nicotine that is believed to be to blame for altering taste for the worse and making foods less appetizing for smokers. Scientists believe that the suppression of taste is more likely to start in the tongue as opposed to the brain but more studies in this area need to be done in order for this theory to be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The Association between Two Senses – Taste and Smell

Taste and smell are also connected so that means those who smoke not only have duller taste buds but also have a duller sense of smell. Both of these senses are necessary when it comes to eating food. The smell sensation is regulated in the nasal cavity by the nasalepithelial cells. The receptors of these important cells are affected in a negative way when a person smokes a cigarette. If your taste is affected by smoking then your smell will be as well.

If you have noticed that food simply does not taste as delicious as it once did then there’s a good chance you can blame it on your habit. Smoking makes everything taste different (and not in a good way).

Erika Slater, CH
Director
Free At Last Hypnosis
http://www.freeatlasthypnosis.com
http://www.smoke-free-at-last.com