Got No Taste?

"He was conscious of a thousand odors floating in the air, each one connected with a thousand thoughts and hopes and joys, and cares long, long forgotten" — Dickens writing of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol If you have lost your sense of taste or smell, then get ready for a treat!

Something we think little about is our sense of taste, except of course when faced with chocolate mousse, cognac or popcorn at the movies. In point of fact, our sense of taste is an acquired sense and develops throughout our life. Our receptors can shift and change based on the tastes that we subject our mouths to, because the receptors for taste are located in the taste buds of the mouth. In order for us to taste, the substance must be in a solution with saliva, since degradation of the substance begins the chemical process of taste. These receptors trigger impulses in cranial nerves which then pass on to the medulla oblongata, thalamus and cerebral cortex.

Smell is a bit different. The nervous system detects information regarding smell from the receptors in the epithelium of the nose. Unlike other neurons, olfactory nerves are changed every two or three months. These receptors are phasic, i.e. they adapt very quickly to smell, and the threshold for smell is very low. This means that we can actually get so used to a smell that we no longer smell it, even ourselves. However, we are very coded to smell. In fact, it is one of the strongest senses we have that links directly to the brain without transferring impulses. For this reason smells evoke memory, passion, nausea or even disgust.

In order for smell to occur, a substance must be volatile, in other words be able to release molecules into the air, enter the nose and stimulate the receptors located in the back of the nasal cavity. Hairs and mucous in the nose are designed to trap the molecules so that the receptors can analyze them. Although each neuron is attached to only one receptor, each receptor seems to be able to detect more than one type of smell. It is thought that the brain relies on multiple receptors to particulate an odor and attach a name to it. Loss of our sense of smell can be disastrous, limiting not only our experience, but our sense of taste as well.

Unlike our sense of smell which can identify thousands of substances, taste can only handle four: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. More specific distinctions are brought about by the additional aspect of smell. If a food is volatile, we will smell it first, otherwise, chemical molecules must be released by the saliva, entering the pharynx to travel up to the nasal passage. The sense of smell is a strong aspect of our neurological processes. For instance male body odor can regulate the female reproductive cycle, keeping the menstrual cycle regular. Smell can also be a main cause of stimulating sensory engrams, bringing about a result without the cause.

Many clients cross my path and tell me about their loss of taste and/or smell after an illness, a sinus attack, a surgery or an injury. Things like chronic allergy or sinus issues can actually inhibit our sense of smell, which then can reduce our variety of tastes to the basic four. It would be a shame if a $100.00 bottle of champagne tasted like soda water.

But before the next New Year’s Eve you can be ready for the exquisite experience of Dom Perignon (actually I prefer Veuve Cliquot myself). There are three things that can work wonders together to restore your missing senses. Acupuncture, a concentrated protocol of supplements and herbs, and intensive massage of the atlas at the base of the posterior skull, which takes the pressure off the cranial nerves, including those responsible for taste, smell and vision. Of course this is assuming that the person had taste to begin with!

The protocol I use for restoring taste is:

• Super EFF - 6 tablets per day.
• Cataplex ACP — 6 per day.
• Thymex- 3 per day.
• Ribonucleic Acid — 12 per day.
• Inositol — 6 per day.
• Folic Acid B12 — 6 per day.

The protocol for restoring smell is:

• Super EFF — 6 per day.
• Inositol - 6 per day.
• Cataplex ACP — 6 per day.
• Albizia Complex — 4 per day.
• Euphrasia Complex - 6 tablets per day.