[Methods of taste sensitivity examination]

Abstract

Taste is the main sensory system that keeps a check on ingested food. Human beings are able to recognize five basic tastes: salty, sour, sweet, bitter and umami. Gustometry, including both gustometry with application of taste substances and electrogustometry, is the method of taste examination. There are various methods of applying taste substances during gustometry examination. The stimuli used in gustometry are: citric acid or hydrochloric acid (sour taste), caffeine or quinine hydrochloride (bitter taste), sodium chloride (salty taste), saccharose (sweet taste), monosodium glutamate (umami taste). Electrogustometry, widely used by clinicians to examine taste sensitivity, allows to estimate the functioning of taste by means of electric excitability thresholds determined through the response to the irritation of taste buds area with electrical current of different intensity. Electrogustometry is especially useful in estimating the efficiency of sensory pathways. However, if we want to examine taste sensitivity to individual taste categories we should use more laborious gustometry with the application of taste substances, which main advantage is the use of physiological stimuli.