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Chem. Senses 29: 25-33, 2004
© Oxford University Press 2004

Metallic Taste and Retronasal Smell

Harry T. Lawless, Serena Schlake, John Smythe, Juyun Lim, Heidi Yang, Kathryn Chapman and Bryson Bolton

Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA

Correspondence to be sent to: Harry Lawless, Department of Food Science, Stocking Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. email: htl1{at}cornell.edu

A series of experiments investigated the nature of metallic taste reports and whether they can be attributed to the development of a retronasal smell. Two studies showed that the metallic sensation reports following oral stimulation with solutions of FeSO4 were reduced to baseline when the nose was occluded. No such reduction was seen for CuSO4 or ZnSO4, which were more bitter and astringent, respectively, and less metallic. A discrimination test based on weak but equi-intense levels of FeSO4 and CuSO4 showed that FeSO4 could be discriminated from water with the nose open but not when occluded, but that discrimination of CuSO4 from water was not impaired by nasal occlusion. A discrimination test demonstrated that the headspace over solutions of FeSO4 was not different from water, although some subjects could discriminate FeSO4 solutions from water in the mouth when the nose was occluded, perhaps by tactile or astringent cues. These results confirm that metallic taste reports following oral stimulation with FeSO4 are likely due to development of a retronasal smell, possibly following a lipid oxidation reaction in the mouth. However, metallic taste reports may arise from different mechanisms with copper and zinc salts.

Key words: ferrous sulfate, lipid oxidation, metallic taste, retronasal smell


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