Re: How does smoking affect your sense of taste?

Aloha, Jill,
     This question made me go on an information hunt, myself.  I am a 
nutritionist (with a fair amount of training in physiology and 
anatomy)...so my first response was one related to nutrition (later).  
Anyway, after checking a reputable reference (Modern Nutrition in Health 
and Disease, 9th edition, l999), my first guess would have been wrong.
     According to Richard Mattes (Indiana University School of Medicine), 
smoking has little/no effect on taste.  Of course, many cigarette smokers 
will report reduced appetite.  Unfortunately, that is why some people get 
into smoking.  A number of research studies have confirmed this to be so 
(the lack of effect).  So the sometimes lower body weights found in smokers 
seem NOT to be due to changes in taste acuity (sensing).  Same finding for 
cigar and pipe smokers...apparently no decrease in taste sensitivity.  I 
would have guessed that cigarettes, pipes, and cigars ALL would decrease 
one's sense of taste.
     Regarding my comment about nutrition at the beginning of this message. 
The National Academy of Sciences, in the l989 Recommended Dietary 
Allowances book, DID suggest that smokers should take in about double the 
amount of vitamin C as non-smokers...not necessarily from supplements.  The 
extra 100 mg can easily be gotten from a large glass of orange juice.  
Apparently, vitamin C is destroyed in smokers' bodies more quickly than 
when a person does not smoke.
     Remember, also, that it is an accepted scientific fact that smoking 
cigarettes can have very serious consequences.  It is linked to an 
increased risk (life-long) for lung cancer and enphysema.  It also 
compounds the risk for developing cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) 
disease...heart attacks and stroke, mainly.  So the argument that smoking 
doesn't affect your taste sorta gets 'lost in the wash'...not worth it!

Best wishes for the holiday season,
Dian Dooley