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The tragedy of taste and smell dysfunction in the United States – it affects millions

As many as 21 million people in the U.S. suffer with taste and smell dysfunction. These symptoms occur after a viral‐type illness (~300,000 yearly), after brain injuries (~600,000 yearly), associated with allergic rhinitis (~200,000 yearly), following x‐irradiation to the head and neck (~50,000 yearly), after chemotherapy (~30,000 yearly) and with neurodegenerative disorders (>500,000 patients). These symptoms alter quality of daily life including appetite alteration with subsequent malnutrition, accidental exposure to gas or spoiled food, social isolation and depression due to persistence of these symptoms. When patients access their physicians for medical assistance they are told there is little known about these problems, there is no known treatment and they should learn to live with these symptoms. This leaves patients with a double problem – presence of these symptoms and inability to obtain help or hope for their evaluation or treatment. This tragedy has been averted in many patients based upon biochemical and clinical studies in which these symptoms were evaluated, their etiologies defined (related to biochemical changes in several body functions) and, based upon these evaluations, effective treatment initiated to correct these dysfunctions. This information must be promulgated to both patients and physicians so this tragedy can end and patients can receive effective evaluation and treatment.