• Question: why when you have a cold can you not taste anything?

    Asked by charlottewilliams to Carol, Ellie, John, Philip, Rebecca on 26 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Rebecca Lacey

      Rebecca Lacey answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Good question charlottewilliams!

      The tongue has lots of taste buds which only sense the five main types of taste (bitter, sweet, sour, salt and MSG). The subtleties of flavour actually come from your sense of smell (ie through the nose!). When you have a cold this sense is not working properly and you appear to lose your sense of taste

    • Photo: John Welford

      John Welford answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      I think Rebecca has answered your question.

      I would add that the MSG flavour is also called “Umami”, it doesn’t help with your question at all but I really like the word Umami and don’t get to use it enough!

    • Photo: Carol White

      Carol White answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      Yep, it’s all about your nose! When you have a cold, usually with a horrible stuffed-up nose, air can’t flow past the “olfactory receptors” which help you determine taste and smell!

      So if you’ve got a cold, keep blowing your nose and clear it so you can taste everything again 🙂 (And ignore the headache!)

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