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[Vol.33 No.3 contents]
Japanese/English
Full Text of this Articlein Japanese PDF (294K) |
| ArticleTitle | Abnormal eating behaviors and physiological dysfunctions in olfaction and gustation in dementia |
| Language | J |
| AuthorList | Mariko Sakai1)2), Takashi Nishikawa2) |
| Affiliation |
1)Department of Rehabilitation, Saiseikai Ibaraki Hospital 2)Department of Rehabilitation, Osaka Prefecture University Graduate School of Comprehensive Rehabilitation |
| Publication | Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 33 (3), 167-176, 2017 |
| Received | |
| Accepted | |
| Abstract | This lecture reviewed the recent findings of studies on the relationship between the abnormal eating behaviors and basic physiological dysfunctions of olfaction and gustation in dementia. There have been a large number of studies indicating that certain types of dementia are accompanied by olfactory disorders. Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) often manifest obvious olfactory disorders from the early stages, while such apparent changes in olfactory function have not been reported in the other types of dementia. On the other hand, there have been fewer studies reported so far concerning gustatory functions in dementia, and results of these show some discrepancy in the appearance of the change in gustatory thresholds. We have recently investigated the gustatory thresholds to detect as well as to recognize the four basic tastes (sweet, salty, sour, and bitter) in patients with AD, and we found that the recognition threshold increased from a very early stage and the detection threshold increased in the later stages with the progression of the disease. Furthermore, based on the findings of our preliminary research on the gustatory functions in the patients with semantic dementia (SD), we suggested that both the detection and the recognition thresholds of taste would increase from the very early stage of the disease. These findings that basic gustatory functions decline in AD and SD may explain some part of the background of the manifestation of abnormal eating behavior, such as excessive food preference frequently seen in these diseases. |
| Keywords | eating abnormality, olfaction, gustation, dementia |
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