

Thus, when you have a cold and a stuffy nose to go with it, you’re unable to smell and subsequently unable to taste. Just like the activity mentioned at the beginning of this article, without your sense of smell, it’s going to be difficult if at all to taste anything you eat. You blow your nose to get rid of this mucus, but it continues to clog up your olfactory senses, thus keeping you from being able to smell. Your nose can get plugged up with mucus as your nose runs. What Happens During a Cold?ĭuring a cold, losing your ability to smell is one of the reasons for taste loss. This means that if you cannot smell, taste is somewhat irrelevant, even though the food you’re putting into your mouth is still triggering your taste buds. This creates an illusion of taste, whereby if you cannot smell what you’re eating, chances are, you won’t truly be able to taste what you’re eating. Your nose sends signals to the brain that are cross-referenced with what you’re tasting. Your tongue is responsible for tasting food, but much of your sense of taste relies on your sense of smell. Having a cold is one of the reasons for loss of taste, but it’s not because having a cold affects your tongue specifically. Your tongue can also tell whether foods are soft, hard, coarse, smooth, and so forth. Taste buds are responsible for sending signals to your brain, letting your brain know whether or not what you’re putting in your mouth is savory, sweet, bitter, or sour. Your tongue is made up of approximately 10,000 taste buds called papillae. Believe it or not, this can actually lead to loss of taste. When your nose gets clogged up with mucus, it makes it quite difficult for you to smell. You experience nasal drip, coughing, and sneezing, because these are ways the body uses to get rid of foreign bodies such as viruses.


Having a cold occurs when a rhinovirus invades your body and your immune system kicks into overdrive to get rid of it. What do you taste? Sweet? Salty? Sour? The answer is, you probably won’t be able to taste anything, and this is exactly what’s going on when you have a cold and the reasons for taste loss. Once your nose is held shut and you cannot smell anything, ask your friend to feed you either a piece of the apple or a piece of the onion. If you prefer, you can clothespin your nose shut, but this may hurt. This activity requires only three materials: a bandana or handkerchief for a blindfold, an onion, and an apple. Invite a friend over for a little research.
