Health Boards
A recent presentation by Erlangen University Germany at Psoriasis gene to clinic suggest a link to taste and smell with psoriasis patients.
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The various aspects of nutrition are a major issue in patient care for psoriasis. Metabolic disorders and increased body mass index are frequently encountered in this patients group and may result from systemic inflammation characteristic for the disease and/or unbalanced intake of food calories by the patients.
Interestingly, in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases relevant gustatory and olfactory changes have been detected. These result in a disturbed food intake and are normalized again upon successful treatment of the disease. Here, patients with psoriasis were tested before any systemic treatment for the gustatory qualities sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. They were tested with appropriate solutions sprayed onto the back of the tongue in a standardized procedure, as well as by using sniffing sticks for olfaction.
Thirty-three patients were tested: 18 women and 15 men with a mean age of 54.3 years (range 21–85), a mean Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) of 8 (range 0.7–24) and mean C-reactive protein (CRP) of 5.4 ng mL (range 0.6–24.1). The results were compared with those in a group of healthy volunteers. Whereas sweet taste was detected by all patients, bitter could not be tasted by 21 patients and umami by 11 patients. Two and 23 patients showed hyposmia with results off the 10% and 50% percentiles of normal volunteers, respectively. Altogether, a distinct impairment of gustatory and olfactory senses was found in patients with psoriasis.
Considering the low number of patients, the correlation to PASI and CRP was barely significant. In addition, a normalization of sensory capacity in relation to therapeutic responses and improvement of psoriasis has to be monitored.