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Study of Taste Deficits

NCT00022997 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 450

Last updated 2019-06-06

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

This study will explore the genetics of taste and taste deficits. The sense of taste plays a crucial role in food choices, allowing people to identify beneficial foods (those with high caloric value, which are typically sweet) and foods likely to be toxic (usually bitter substances). The loss of sense of taste in older people plays a role in decreased appetite and poor nutrition. Taste deficits may adversely affect people in ways that are not well understood. This study will examine why some people (about one-fourth of all people in the United States) cannot taste a substance called phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). The inability to taste PTC is due to inherited factors that are not yet clear.

Individuals age 18 and older who can taste PTC and individuals who cannot taste PTC may be eligible for this study. Participants will taste a number of liquid solutions until they find one with a clear taste. Then they will taste another group of solutions and decide which ones have that taste and which have no taste. Finally, they will taste a third group of solutions until they find one with a different taste. About 2 tablespoons of blood will be drawn from participants for genetic tests related to the sense of taste.

Conditions

  • Taste Disorder
  • Healthy

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

    lead NIH

Principal Investigators

  • Dennis T Drayna, Ph.D. · National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2001-08-16
Completion
2019-06-04

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00022997 on ClinicalTrials.gov