No taste or smell when you have a cold?

We all had this experience before and it can be irritating. This post explains why this happens.


Taste is related to smell more then most people think. In the mouth there is something called taste receptors and in the nose there are olfactory (smell) receptors. These receptors are called chemoreceptors because they detect the presence of chemicals which causes the sensation of taste and smell. 

What actually happens is that they form weak bonds with particular chemicals which causes electrical signals to be generated and passed to the brain. When the brain detects these electrical signals, our it makes us taste and smell. 

Surprisingly, 80% of taste is due to smell while only 20% is due to our mouth (tongue).


Food seems tasteless when we have a cold because mucus coating our inflamed nasal passage ways block the olfactory receptors therefore 80% of our taste is missing so food becomes significantly tasteless.

Interesting fact: Humans are relatively insenstitve to odrrs and as compared with most other animals: a well-trained human can distinguish abour 10,000 odors, albeit high concentrations. For dogs, on the other hand, the number seems almost infinite, and the concentration necessary is very low.