Study on the sense of taste in a group of Sicilian centenarians.
The sense of taste was studied in a group of 20 centenarians from Eastern Sicily, displaying a mini mental state examination (MMSE) score higher than 19. Control subjects were 20 adult (mean age 27.7 +/- 3.2 years) and 20 elderly subjects (mean age 71.3 +/- 5.5 years). Although it has been revealed that centenarians retain considerably the capacity to perceive tastes, they displayed statistically significant reductions (p < 0.001) in taste functions for sweet, sour, salty and bitter, as compared to both the adult and elderly controls.
Receputo
G
G
Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Catania, Via Messina, 829, l-95126 Catania, Italy.
Mazzoleni
G
G
Fazio
I D
ID
Alessandria
I
I
Savia
S
S
Scarpinato
R A
RA
Tomasello
F B
FB
Laurino
A
A
Fornaro
D
D