A Comparative Study of Different Taste Parameters in Diabetics And Non-Diabetics

The present study included 65 diabetic subjects from the diabetic Clinic of J.J. Hospital, Byculla, Mumbai and 30 control subjects and from the normal healthy teaching and non-teaching faculty members of grant medical college. The objective of this study was aimed at comparing tasting ability in diabetics and non- diabetics for taste parameters like sweet, sour, salty, bitter & Phenylthiocarbamide(PTC). On comparison it was revealed that there was significant lowered tasting ability of the diabetic subjects (p<0.05) for sweet, salt, sour & bitter solutions as compared with the controls. Highly significant results were observed for sweet taste (p<0.001). But no significant difference in PTC tasting ability (p>0.05) was observed between the two groups. Diabetes thus seems to affect the tasting ability of individuals for sweet, sour, salty & bitter tastes but PTC tasting ability seems to remain unchanged.