title: Association between individual response to food taste and gastroesophageal symptoms.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Taste is an important element in food preferences. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is related to lifestyles including eating habits. We aimed to investigate the relationship between responses to specific tastes and GERD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Altogether 280 patients including 170 men with a mean age of 58.6 years were included in the study to determine the relationship between their liking for specific tastes and GERD using a new self-administered questionnaire (responses to various tastes and participants' sensitivity to taste and hot food and on the frequency of stomatitis). Another self-administrated questionnaire was administrated for a diagnosis of GERD (the frequency scale for the symptoms of GERD cut-off score of 10). Furthermore, 142 of 280 patients who had received esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) were investigated on the association between endoscopic esophagitis and their favorite tastes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the association analyses between responses to specific tastes and GERD, the group liking salty food and the group with a high frequency of stomatitis had a significantly higher incidence of GERD (salty food: odds ratio [OR] 2.059, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.215-3.488, P = 0.0073; stomatitis: OR 2.861, 95% CI 1.558-5.253, P = 0.0007, respectively). In association analyses with endoscopic esophagitis, the groups liking salty and sour food had a significantly higher incidence rate of endoscopic esophagitis (salty: OR 2.718, 95% CI 1.330-5.555, P = 0.0061; sour: OR 3.267, 95% CI 1.491-7.160, P = 0.0031, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sensitivity and response to specific food taste were associated with GERD. The results of a preference to hot or salty food and endoscopic esophagitis suggest that physical stimuli are important for esophageal injuries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Namiki Hospital, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan.
authors.forename: Takafumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Omori
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomomitsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tahara
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuichiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okubo
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan.
authors.forename: Takamitsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishizuka
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagasaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Kanazawa Medical University School of Medicine, Kahoku, Japan.
authors.forename: Masakatsu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Kanazawa Medical University School of Medicine, Kahoku, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomiyasu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arisawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Japan.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hirata
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal; D004941:Esophagitis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology*; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057566:Self Report; D013280:Stomatitis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: food preferences; gastroesophageal; reflux; self-administrated questionnaire; taste