Smokers Extinguish Taste Buds
August 21, 2009
(Ivanhoe Newswire) – Cigarettes deaden the ability to taste, leaving smokers with fewer and flatter taste buds, according to a study of the tongues of 62 Greek soldiers.
Pavlidis Pavlos, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, led a team of researchers who used electrical stimulation to test the taste threshold of the soldiers and endoscopes to measure the number and shape of a kind of taste bud called fungiform papillae. Pavlos was quoted as saying, "Statistically important differences between the taste thresholds of smokers and non-smokers were detected. Differences concerning the shape and the vascularisation of fungiform papillae were also observed."
Applying electrical current to the tongue can generate a unique metallic taste. Researchers tested taste sensitivity by measuring how much current was required before the participant perceived this sensation. The 28 smokers in the study group scored worse than the 34 non-smokers. Close examination with a contact endoscope revealed the smoker's tongues had flatter fungiform papillae, with a reduced blood supply. Pavlos concluded, "Nicotine may cause functional and morphological alterations of papillae, at least in young adults."
SOURCE: BMC Ear, Nose and Throat
Disorders, August 19, 2009
Want to be the FIRST TO KNOW?
Click Here for a free weekly email with Ivanhoe's latest Medical Breakthroughs.