Adherence
Post-viral olfactory and gustatory dysfunction (anosmia/parosmia) causes significant nutritional insufficiency and weight dysregulation (gain or loss) due to altered flavor perception, appetite suppression, and food avoidance.
If you have lost your sense of smell or taste after COVID, expect changes in your weight and eating habits. You may lose weight because food tastes bad, or gain weight because you crave strong flavors (salt/sugar) to compensate. Focus on texture and temperature to make food tolerable, and prioritize nutrient-dense foods that are less offensive to your altered senses. Seek support groups to manage the psychological burden, as this is a recognized medical issue, not just a minor annoyance.
Our findings suggest altered taste and smell with Covid-19 may lead to severe disruption to daily living that impacts on psychological well-being, physical health, relationships and sense of self. More specifically, participants reported impacts that related to reduced desire and ability to eat and prepare food; weight gain, weight loss and nutritional insufficiency
Why this rating
Qualitative thematic analysis of user-generated text; high ecological validity but lacks controlled physiological measurement.
Source
Altered smell and taste: Anosmia, parosmia and the impact of long Covid-19
Duika Burges Watson et al. · PLoS ONE · 2021
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0256998
More from this paper
- Parosmia (distorted smell) leads to the consumption of highly processed, sugary, or fatty foods as a compensatory mechanism to achieve sensory satisfaction, potentially compromising diet quality.Moderate
- Parosmia can cause severe food aversion and rapid weight loss due to the perception of common foods as having foul, metallic, or rotten odors.Moderate
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