Bmj Best Practice Evaluation Of Taste Disorders Andrei Barasch by Andrei Barasch, Joel Epstein instant download after payment.

perception accompanying oral intake. Taste comprises five basic taste qualities: sweet, bitter, salty, sour,

and umami.[1] Umami (pleasant, good, desirable taste) is the perception of monosodium glutamate; its taste

resembles that of chicken bouillon.[2]

Additional taste functions have been identified, including fat "taste" that may be mediated by receptor

transduction and nonspecific transport across the cell membrane and spicy "sensation" (e.g., capsaicin,

ginger) mediated by sensory afferent fibers.[3] A receptor resulting in kokumi taste that enhances other flavor

sensations, and a "water" receptor have also been described.[4] [5] [6] [7]

However, the common sense of the word "taste" often means "flavor," which in turn is a composite of several

(nongustatory) chemosensory afferents including taste, spice, texture, temperature (both mediated by the

trigeminal nerve - i.e., cranial nerve V), vision and importantly, olfaction (more precisely, retro-olfaction)

perceived while eating.[1] [8] [9] As such, a patient's complaints about taste loss do not always reflect the

underlying pathology. Taste testing is mandatory to exclude a primary olfactory or trigeminal nerve pathology

that manifests clinically to the patient as a problem with taste.

According to testing with taste strips, 5.3% of people considered as healthy have hypogeusia although very

few have complete ageusia.[10] The evaluation of a patient presenting with taste dysfunction comprises the

patient's history (including medical history, drug intake and dietary/nutritional elements), a detailed clinical

exam (including oral exam), and investigations to determine the underlying etiology.