Thursday, August 27, 2009
THURSDAY, Aug. 27 (Health care tips) In addition to the many well-known ways that smoking cigarettes can injure a person's health, new research has found that smoking dampens the capability to taste.
In the study, researchers used electrical stimulation to examine the taste threshold of 62 Greek members. Applying an electrical current to the tongue generates a unique metallic taste. Measuring the amount of current compulsory before a person perceives this taste enables researchers to determine taste sensitivity. The 28 smokers in the study scored not as good as on this test than the 34 nonsmokers.
The researchers then used endoscopy to calculate the number and shape of a type of taste bud called fungiform papillae. They found that the smokers had flatter fungiform papillae, with a reduced blood supply.
The study was published online Aug. 20 in the journal BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders.
"Statistically significant differences between the taste thresholds of smokers and nonsmokers were notice. Differences concerning the shape and the vascularization of fungiform papillae were also observed," study leader Pavlidis Pavlos, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and colleagues said in a news release from the journal's publisher.
"Nicotine may cause functional and morphological alterations of papillae, at least in young adults," they completed.
In the study, researchers used electrical stimulation to examine the taste threshold of 62 Greek members. Applying an electrical current to the tongue generates a unique metallic taste. Measuring the amount of current compulsory before a person perceives this taste enables researchers to determine taste sensitivity. The 28 smokers in the study scored not as good as on this test than the 34 nonsmokers.
The researchers then used endoscopy to calculate the number and shape of a type of taste bud called fungiform papillae. They found that the smokers had flatter fungiform papillae, with a reduced blood supply.
The study was published online Aug. 20 in the journal BMC Ear, Nose and Throat Disorders.
"Statistically significant differences between the taste thresholds of smokers and nonsmokers were notice. Differences concerning the shape and the vascularization of fungiform papillae were also observed," study leader Pavlidis Pavlos, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and colleagues said in a news release from the journal's publisher.
"Nicotine may cause functional and morphological alterations of papillae, at least in young adults," they completed.
Labels: Cigarettes, Health care tips
