taste buds

Here’s How Chili Might Help us Regain Our Sense of Taste After COVID

Posted by

0


(Ponomarenko Anastasia/Shutterstock)

The news of a hot chili sauce shortages earlier this year – due to high temperatures and drought in agricultural regions – prompted warnings to stock up on supplies or forego adding this flavor to your food. But what prompts people to want to do this in the first place?

We are usually born with an aversion to the sensations like the taste of chilli on our tongue. This isn’t surprising because the key ingredient in chilli is a compound called capsaicin, which causes a painful and even burning sensation when it comes into contact with sensitive areas of our skin, eyes and mouth. Little wonder that it is also a key ingredient in pepper spray.

But in smaller, tolerable amounts, we can adapt to the sensations evoked by chilli and find them desirable.

Chilli can even act as a natural opiate, making our bodies release endorphins in a similar way to a “runner’s high”.

A Taste Sensation

We react to capsaicin because we have a family of receptors in sensory nerves lining the epithelial (outer) layers of our skin, naso-oral and gastrointestinal tract. These bind to the capsaicin and relay signals to our brain.

These receptors are temperature sensitive and respond to heat in addition to being activated by capsaicin.

In the case of biting into a chilli pepper, the release of capsaicin onto our tongue generates a sensation that ranges from mild tingling to burning heat, depending on the degree to which we have adapted to it.

What distinguishes the sensation compared to other flavours – for example, salty, sweet and bitter – is that it continues long after we have swallowed the mouthful of food containing the chilli. This is because capsaicin is soluble in fat so it is not easily washed off from its receptors on our tongue and mouth by drinking water. In this way, the sensation can intensify with further mouthfuls of chilli-containing food.

We experience capsaicin as a burning sensation that is amplified when the temperature of the food is hot. Our brain interprets this as both pain and excessive warmth, which is why our facial skin flushes and we start to sweat.

Sounds Horrible, so Why Do Some People Love It?

Well, firstly, all that burning increases saliva production, a response that dilutes the heat as well as enhancing the ability to chew the food. This also dissolves and spreads other flavours in food around the tongue, which enhances the perception of these flavours.

Some volatile organic compounds with flavour can also rise up from the back of the mouth to the nasal sensors when the food is swallowed. Think of the pungent hit of wasabi that comes with sushi or the complex mix of aromas in a Thai red curry. Relatively bland food like rice has its flavor increased by the addition of chilli.

Another factor is that endorphins are released in response to the painful stimulus, which provide their own pain-numbing and mood-enhancing effects. This is a similar situation to people who get addicted to running – the effect of endorphins released by prolonged or intense exercise is to reduce feelings of pain and make us feel good.

People may increase their consumption of chilli as their response to capsaicin receptors adapts and they develop more tolerance and preference for the taste and its effects.

However, it is possible to have too much chilli, shown in the link between high daily consumption of chilli (more than 50 grams – or three or four tablespoons – per day) and declines in memory.

Sriracha chili sauce bottles produced in Irwindale, Calif., Oct. 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
Endorphins in a bottle or torture test? 

COVID and Taste

One thing people have noticed as a frequent side-effect of COVID infection and some antiviral treatment is that their sense of taste and smell is temporarily reduced or lost.

While this eventually recovers in most people, it can go on long after the initial illness. This loss of the ability to smell and taste flavours in food (anosmia and ageusia) leads to reduced enjoyment and quality of life.

Researchers have focused on the mechanisms through which the different COVID variants affect olfactory neurons (the parts of the brain that process and respond to smell) and supporting cells in order to find treatments.

These include smell training using essential oils, which may assist people whose smell remains impaired longer than a month post-COVID. Chilli might also assist, as a taste enhancer.

One study by a meals company of 2,000 diners with COVID found 43% of them were increasing the amount of chilli and other spices they were adding to food to amplify the flavour of meals. Danish experts say eating foods like chilli might be useful to provide sensory stimulation to diners when their sense of smell isn’t quite up to scratch.

How Long Does COVID-19–Associated Smell and Taste Dysfunction Last?

Posted by

0


About 5% of people who lost smell or taste had persistent dysfunction at 6 months.

Two and a half years into the pandemic, a clearer understanding of the natural history of COVID-19–associated smell and taste dysfunction finally is emerging. Three groups have evaluated the timeline of such dysfunction.

In a meta-analysis, researchers combined data from 18 observational studies of patients with COVID-19–associated smell and taste dysfunction to determine the time course of recovery and identify risk factors for persistence. Data from 3700 patients (collected before emergence of Omicron) were included. Included studies varied widely in methodology and setting; most relied on self-report.

Key findings were:

  • Among patients reporting loss of smell, the proportions who recovered by day 30, 60, 90, and 180 were 74%, 86%, 90%, and 96%, respectively.
  • Among patients reporting loss of taste, the proportions who recovered by day 30, 60, 90, and 180 were 79%, 88%, 90%, and 98%, respectively.
  • Persistent dysfunction in smell and taste at 6 months were reported in 5.6% and 4.4% of patients, respectively.
  • Women were less likely to recover smell and taste than were men.
  • Patients with nasal congestion and more-severe smell dysfunction were less likely to recover.

Comment

These results should help clinicians in counseling patients whose quality of life is affected by smell and taste dysfunction following COVID-19. However, the results are limited by lack of information on COVID-19 variants, vaccination status, and treatments received. Reassuringly, other studies from Brazil and Italy suggest that smell and taste dysfunction occur much less frequently with Omicron than with prior variants and that recovery can continue beyond 6 months.

A Way to Prevent Loss of Smell and Taste From COVID-19

Posted by

0


Loss of smell and taste—a hallmark symptom of COVID-19—was not on the minds of a group of Yale School of Medicine researchers when they embarked on a study in the spring of 2020.

The scientists, led by Joseph Vinetz, MD, an infectious diseases specialist, were interested to find out if an oral medication used to treat pancreatitis could reduce the viral load (the amount of virus in your body) of SARS-CoV-2 and improve symptoms in people newly diagnosed with COVID-19.

The study, which is available on a preprint site and has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, ran from June 2020 to April 2021. It showed that the medication, called camostat mesylate, did little to lessen viral load. But, to the researchers’ surprise, it brought a different type of benefit.

“The patients who received the drug didn’t lose any sense of smell or taste. That was a ‘wow’ factor,” says Dr. Vinetz.

This matters because loss of smell, known as anosmia, and loss of taste are common COVID-19 symptoms. For many, the senses return as the infection fades. But for others, the effect lingers in varying degrees. (With the omicron variant, those symptoms can still occur, but not as often as it has with other variants.)

How the ‘surprise’ finding on loss of taste and smell was discovered

Dr. Vinetz says he was originally motivated to look into camostat mesylate after he saw an April 2020 study published in Cell that showed how this medicine could prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering cells.

Dr. Vinetz recruited several colleagues to collaborate, including Anne Spichler Moffarah, MD, Ph.D., an infectious diseases specialist, and Gary Desir, MD, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. Geoffrey Chupp, MD, director of the Yale Center for Asthma and Airways Disease, ran the clinical trial.

The Phase II randomized trial enrolled 70 participants who tested positive for COVID-19 within three days of starting the study. Participants took the medicine four times a day for seven days.

Although the trial was stopped once it was clear that the main objective of reducing viral load was not occurring, the researchers think the surprise findings about loss of smell and taste warrant additional study.

“My daughter had COVID a year ago and she still has trouble smelling and tasting things,” says Dr. Desir. “This drug seems to be able to modulate that loss of smell and taste. It has very few side effects and has been studied extensively. This could be the type of treatment that is given to someone with COVID at the onset of the infection.”

This shows a woman in a facemask holding a flower
This matters because loss of smell, known as anosmia, and loss of taste are common COVID-19 symptoms. Image is in the public domain

If the drug were to be approved for this purpose, the doctors believe it could be a game-changer. “It wouldn’t be an expensive medication. Our idea was that everyone would take it if they were diagnosed because it’s hard to predict who will lose their sense of smell or taste, and it’s better to prevent it than to wait for it to happen,” Dr. Desir says.

Additional benefits found for those with COVID-19

There were also other benefits to this medication, as the study showed that those who received it reported notable improvements related to fatigue, compared to those who received a placebo.

“People who got camostat mesylate in the trial started feeling less tired and better overall after day four, which was statistically different from the placebo group,” Dr. Vinetz says.

“And there were essentially no adverse effects in the camostat mesylate group.”

Whether camostat mesylate could help restore sense of taste or smell in someone who has lost it is unknown, he adds. “More studies would help us with that,” Dr. Chupp says.

In order for camostat mesylate to become available for use in preventing the COVID-19-related loss of taste or smell, there would need to be a Phase III clinical trial and an application filed to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use authorization. All of this would take some time, Dr. Chupp explains.

Still, the doctors are hopeful their surprise discovery can make a positive impact on the fight against COVID-19. “A drug such as camostat mesylate presents an opportunity,” says Dr. Chupp

7 Amazing Juice Diet Recipes For Weight Loss. {Infographic}

Posted by

0


If you find it difficult to eat your salads raw and are choosy based on what appeals to your taste buds, then why not consider putting them in a blender and giving it a whirl??

Add in a dash of salt,  organic sugar, and spices and voila….you start consuming a combination of healthy foods that now taste delicious together !!

Here are 7 simple yet yummy juice recipes to boost your weight loss regime:

juicing recipes for weight loss infographic