Cancer treatment doesn’t just target the disease; it can also alter the senses we rely on every day. Changes in taste and smell are common yet often overlooked side effects that can make eating feel challenging. We must understand the cause of these changes and use coping strategies to manage such challenges.
What causes the changes?
The cause of these changes is the treatment affecting the rapidly dividing cells. Taste buds on the tongue and olfactory receptors in the nasal passages have a rapid turnover rate. Chemotherapy and radiation damage the healthy and quickly growing cells, along with cancer cells. This damage affects the brain’s ability to correctly interpret taste and smell signals. Chemotherapy also leads to a metallic taste, as the treatment agents can be excreted into the saliva. Factors such as dry mouth, oral infections, and some medicines can also cause changes in smell and taste experiences. And this combination leads to altered or reduced taste and smell perception.
Which treatments lead to the changes?
No single treatment causes these changes alone, but these treatments are more likely to lead to sensory changes:
Chemotherapy: Chemo drugs with platinum-based agents and taxanes can cause a temporary loss of taste and a metallic taste.
Radiation therapy: Radiation to the head and neck area can destroy the salivary glands and taste buds, causing long-lasting changes.
Immunotherapy: Targeted therapy and new agents can affect taste and smell, but to a smaller extent than chemotherapy.
Surgery: Surgical procedures of the head or neck can temporarily affect the taste and smell-functioning nerves.
How to reset the taste buds?
Foods that help manage taste changes require experimentation with flavours. For the metallic taste, citrus fruits, pickles, mint, and high-flavoured spices can help cut through it. Strong herbs like basil and rosemary, cheeses, bacon, onion, and garlic can enhance food flavour. Chilled fruits, ice creams, and popsicles can numb the taste buds and make unlikable flavors less noticeable. For hydration, drink water with lemon slices, ginger ale, and clear broths. This helps keep the mouth moist and washes away the loss of taste residue.
Strategies from survivors
Survivors suggest looking into food temperature and texture. Food at cold or room temperature can reduce the intense or offensive smells to an altered smell. The use of non-metallic vessels can reduce the perception of metallic taste. Maintain regular oral hygiene by brushing the tongue as well.
Retraining the senses
Olfactory retraining, or smell therapy, can benefit from the constant loss of taste and changes in smell. Intentionally smelling strong and familiar scents such as lemon, cloves, rose, or eucalyptus twice daily for a few months can help the damaged olfactory nerves recover.
Managing the changes in taste and smell due to damaged sensory cells is necessary for nutrition and quality. Patients can experiment with strong flavors and temperatures of food while also maintaining oral hygiene, using non-metallic vessels, and olfactory retraining. A study reported that 67.7% of patients undergoing chemotherapy experience changes in taste, and 21.8% have a moderate risk of malnutrition. Managing this actively while understanding its causes can help patients with sensory changes while undergoing and after therapy.