Your guide to loss of taste
Our guide to loss of taste provides you with helpful information about the disease. You also have the opportunity to clarify your questions quickly and easily in an online doctor’s consultation via video. You can obtain prescriptions or sick notes at the doctor’s discretion via the app. No appointment problems or long waits.
Guide to loss of taste
About the causes and treatments of dysgeusia
The coffee tastes bland, the food looks delicious, but its flavors are not accessible to them: a loss of taste can have serious consequences for those affected in terms of quality of life. The causes are varied, as are the severity and manifestation. A loss of smell and taste has been observed in over 70 percent of cases of infection with the novel coronavirus Sars-CoV-2.
Abstract
- A sudden loss of taste can be due to viral infections, illnesses such as diabetes or the intake of certain medications.
- In addition to complete or partial loss, an altered sense of taste can also occur.
- In many cases, the loss of taste is reversible. Under certain circumstances, treatment with medication may be indicated.
Definition: one symptom, different manifestations
If the sense of taste is impaired, the ability to distinguish and perceive flavors can be significantly impaired. Impairment of the sense of taste manifests itself in various forms and degrees of severity.
Experts speak of qualitative and quantitative taste disorders (dysgeusias).
- One of the qualitative symptoms is cacogeusia: those affected taste certain flavors differently – a taste stimulus that is usually perceived as pleasant is perceived as unpleasant.
- Phantogeusia describes the phenomenon of tasting food even though no taste stimulus is present.
- In medicine, quantitative dysgeusia refers to the complete loss of taste (ageusia).
- In addition to complete ageusia, there are also cases of functional ageusia. In this case, the sense of taste is impaired.
- Patients with partial ageusia do not perceive certain aromas.
- Hypergeusia, on the other hand, describes the phenomenon of perceiving flavors with extreme intensity.
What causes a loss of taste?
The reasons for a loss of taste can be divided into three groups:
- Epithelial causes
- Nervous causes
- Central causes
Alongside muscles, nerves and connective tissue, epithelia are one of the four most important types of tissue in the human body. These are covering and glandular tissues that, among other things, form the taste cells of the back of the tongue.
Epithelial causes have a direct effect on the taste buds, while nervous triggers are due to damage to certain cranial nerves. Central triggers include organic brain disorders.
The table provides an overview of typical clinical pictures and symptoms of the three possible causes:
| Epithelial triggers | Nervous triggers | Central triggers |
| viral infectious diseases | tumors | brain tumors |
| Consequences of ear, dental or ENT treatments | Injuries to the brain stem | |
| Hypothyroidism | Basilar skull fracture | Neurodegenerative diseases(dementia, Parkinson’s disease) |
| Diseases of the liver and kidneys | Inflammation of the nerves | Certain forms of epilepsy |
| Side effects of medication |
Loss of taste due to the virus
Current studies on Sars-CoV-2 patients show that a loss of smell and taste was observed in around 70 percent of cases. This symptom can also occur with influenza. Similar to the loss of the sense of smell, the cause of the loss of the sense of taste is damage to the nerves by the virus.
How does the doctor make the diagnosis?
The first step is to characterize the dysgeusia. The doctor asks the patient about the severity and other symptoms.
Possible questions are:
- Is the loss of taste complete or limited?
- Can individual aromas no longer be perceived?
- Is a loss of smell associated with the symptoms?
This is usually followed by an examination of the mouth, nose and throat. Among other things, this makes it possible to determine whether the oral mucosa is sufficiently moisturized.
The diagnosis can be further narrowed down using taste tests. Patients should be able to recognize certain aromas and their intensity. Further diagnostics provide more precise information about the causes:
- Salivary gland diagnostics
- Microscopic analysis of the oral mucosa
- Computer tomography
By recording the brain curves during a taste test, the doctors find out whether a corresponding signal is being received in the brain.
How can dysgeusia be treated?
The treatment of a taste disorder depends primarily on the causes.
To date, there are hardly any treatment options for qualitative dysgeusia. In around two thirds of cases, it disappears on its own within a year.
If medication triggers the loss of taste, the symptoms usually subside after discontinuation.
Medication should not be discontinued without consulting your doctor. If you attribute your loss of taste to taking medication, be sure to speak to your doctor before you stop taking the medication yourself.
If inflammation or other illnesses are treated effectively, the sense of taste also regresses in most cases.
Therapies with alpha-lipoic acid or zinc/zinc gluconate are currently being tested and are showing initial success. Local anaesthetics such as lidocaine can be used for patients with severe pain.
When should I see a doctor?
If a sudden loss of taste cannot be explained by taking medication such as antibiotics, it is advisable to consult an ear, nose and throat specialist.
If there is a reasonable suspicion of an infection with the novel coronavirus, you should first call your family doctor’s practice or follow the rules of conduct of the respective municipality or local authority.
If the ENT specialist cannot find a specific cause, it is advisable to consult a neurologist.
Questions and answers
What consequences can a loss of taste have?
In addition to the loss of quality of life when food can no longer be enjoyed or can no longer be fully enjoyed, dysgeusia can also be dangerous. In particular, if it is accompanied by a loss of the sense of smell, patients find it more difficult to recognize spoiled food. Food poisoning is therefore a frequent consequence.
Do taste and odor disorders always occur together?
Compared to olfactory disorders, taste disorders occur rather rarely and when they do, they are combined. This is because the senses of smell and taste are partly interdependent. Dysgeusia alone usually manifests itself through a qualitative disorder, for example by perceiving flavors differently.
Sources
- https://www.aerzteblatt.de/archiv/22440/Riech-und-Schmeckvermoegen-im-Alter
- https://www.beobachter.ch/gesundheit/symptom/geschmacksstorung-dysgeusie
- https://www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de/geruchs-und-geschmacksverlust-bei-vielen-infizierten/
- https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Covid-19-Achtung-bei-Geruchs-und-Geschmacksverlust-4684484.html
- https://www.deutsche-apotheker-zeitung.de/daz-az/2016/daz-32-2016/wenn-das-essen-nicht-mehr-schmeckt
- https://www.helmholtz.de/gesundheit/der-leidensdruck-ist-enorm/
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- Zuletzt aktualisiert: 28. May 2026
