Research
Adherence
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.
When your sense of smell is gone, your brain may crave strong flavors (salt, sugar, spice) to feel satisfied. This can lead to overeating processed foods. Try to satisfy these cravings with healthy alternatives that offer strong textures (crunchy, creamy) or safe spices, rather than just sugar and fat. Monitor your intake to prevent unwanted weight gain.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Anosmia could both result in a diet of more sugary, fatty, highly processed foods because “processed food tastes the least offensive” (—since basic tastes like salt and sugar, detected by the tongue, were still perceptible)
Why this rating
Based on self-reported dietary changes in qualitative posts.
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
cross_sectional · n=9000Cited 207×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- 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.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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