A Neurobiological Examination of Environmental, Subjective, Peripheral and Central Taste Sensation Processing Variances Associated with Taste Alterations: A Case Study Method

Abstract

This study examines a common phenomenon that is greatly ignored by the clinical community for numerous reasons. Many people for a multitude of reasons experience taste alterations. The supertaster phenomenon is an alteration of taste that requires more investigation. In this study, a proband was examined for subjective reports of a taste alteration to determine its nature through a medical history examination and interview as well as any recollections of the taste disorder in her life. Through this examination, it was found that medical history examination and interview of the proband that many members of her nuclear family showed traits of the same taste disorder or in the case of one family member being a suspect for the taste alteration and one member not showing any signs because of genetic diversity as a half-sibling. Taste disorders are heritable, have multiple health and mental health consequences, influence life choices including mate choice, avoidance behaviors, social choices, alcohol use/abuse, smoking, food choices, and more. More awareness is needed in the research and clinical community into taste alterations as well as calls for future research from neuroscience, biomedical science, life science, and allied science community to investigate taste alterations.