Your sense of taste could predict if youre more likely to die younger

If you’re among the 19% of Americans who report changes in their sense of taste as they get older, it might be some cause for alarm. New research suggests that losing your sense of taste, especially for salty and sour foods, could be linked to early death in older adults. And the results were different for men and women.The study, published today in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, looked at 7,340 adults aged 40 and over.They found that those whose sense of taste declined since their younger years had a 47% higher risk of dying in the six-year follow-up period.Self-reported decline in the ability to taste bitterness was associated with early death only in female participants, whereas decline in the ability to taste sourness was associated with increased mortality only in male participants. While our sense of smell and taste are often associated with one another — for example, when you have a stuffy nose, foods don’t always taste as good — this study found that an increased risk of death in people who lost their sense of taste but were still fully able to smell.So could losing your sense of taste be an early warning sign of something more dangerous? Maybe.Researchers believe the findings indicate loss of taste could be signals of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, as well as cardiovascular ones like heart failure and stroke. Taste dysfunction could also negatively impact one’s eating habits — losing your taste in salt, for example, could lead to excessive salt intake and elevated blood pressure — leading to nutritional deficiencies and chronic diseases. The study may have far-reaching implications, encouraging doctors to screen their patients for changes in their sense of taste to identify high-risk individuals. However, Dr.David Henry Hiltzik, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Staten Island University Hospital, is reluctant to draw such an extreme conclusion. “I think the study is...