Study on the sense of taste in a group of Sicilian centenarians

G Receputo; G Mazzoleni; I D Fazio; I Alessandria; S Savia; R A Scarpinato; F B Tomasello; A Laurino; D Fornaro

doi:10.1016/0167-4943(96)86973-1

Study on the sense of taste in a group of Sicilian centenarians

Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 1996:22 Suppl 1:411-4. doi: 10.1016/0167-4943(96)86973-1.

Authors

G Receputo¹, G Mazzoleni, I D Fazio, I Alessandria, S Savia, R A Scarpinato, F B Tomasello, A Laurino, D Fornaro

Affiliation

¹ Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Catania, Via Messina, 829, l-95126 Catania, Italy.

PMID: 18653068
DOI: 10.1016/0167-4943(96)86973-1

Abstract

The sense of taste was studied in a group of 20 centenarians from Eastern Sicily, displaying a mini mental state examination (MMSE) score higher than 19. Control subjects were 20 adult (mean age 27.7 +/- 3.2 years) and 20 elderly subjects (mean age 71.3 +/- 5.5 years). Although it has been revealed that centenarians retain considerably the capacity to perceive tastes, they displayed statistically significant reductions (p < 0.001) in taste functions for sweet, sour, salty and bitter, as compared to both the adult and elderly controls.