The most noticeable problem in taste perception affecting older adults is an upward change in thresholds—it takes more of a given flavor to be perceived as the same amount as before. For a typical older individual, with one or more medical conditions and taking three prescription medications, the number of flavor molecules required to detect a taste shows marked increases depending on the flavor. If you’re typical, you’ll need to have a whopping twelve times the amount of salt to detect that salt is even present compared to when you were in your fifties. For bitter tastes, such as quinine,
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