Many older adults complain that food lacks flavor. This is usually due to olfactory deficits—smell works in tandem with taste to convey the flavor of food and drink, and sensors inside the cheeks feed into the brain’s olfactory centers. Other causes of taste deficit are a history of upper respiratory infections, head injury, drug use, and an age-related reduction in saliva production. All of these factors can cause loss of appetite, loss of pleasure from eating, malnutrition, and even depression.
