Vision loss, fatigue, facial pain, and cognitive difficulties are common symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), but the connection between taste issues and MS is less clear and rarely reported. A new University of Pennsylvania study conducted using MR found that taste problem is more common among MS patients than previously thought.

Researchers in the university’s Smell and Taste center and radiology department administered a standard taste test to 73 MS patients and 73 control patients to evaluate their ability to taste sweet, sour, bitter and salty things. They also conducted MR exams to evaluate 52 brain regions that are known to be affected by MS.

Concentrations of each of the four tastes were placed on the left and right sides of the front and back of the patients’ tongues and a total of 96 tests were conducted on each of them. They were instructed to identify the taste and then grade each test on a scale from "very weak" to "very strong".
They found that MS significantly impacted the patients’ ability to taste, especially salty and sweet. Fifteen to 32 percent of MS patients had taste scores below the fifth percentile of controls, which is almost twice as high as previous studies.

More specifically, 15.07 percent scored below the fifth percentile for caffeine, 21.9 percent for citric acid, 24.66 percent for sucrose and 31.50 percent for sodium chloride.

After examining the MR images, the researchers also uncovered that taste scores were inversely correlated with lesion volumes in certain parts of the brain including the temporal, medial frontal and superior frontal lobes, as well as lesions in the left and right superior frontal lobes, right anterior cingulate gyrus and left parietal operculum.

Interestingly, the women involved in the study outperformed men on taste measurement, which is something that previous studies have also found. The researchers assume it’s because women have more taste papillae and taste buds than men.

"This study represents the most comprehensive study preformed to date on the influences of MS on the ability to taste," Richard Doty, lead author, said in a statement. “This suggests that altered taste function, though less noticeable than changes in vision, is a relatively common feature in MS.”

Despite these important findings, more research is needed to investigate the relationship between taste and MS. A better understanding of the disease might help to better diagnose and manage the symptoms.

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