The objective of this study was to investigate the factors affecting
interindividual variation in the sense of taste among Finnish adults.
Two components of taste function were examined with five established
taste modalities: taste sensitivity and capability to identify taste
modalities. The potential explanatory factors for taste function
included gender, age, BMI, and smoking. In total, 205 volunteers
participated in the study at the sensory evaluation laboratory of
Functional Foods Forum. Older age (>50 years) and male gender
predicted a less sensitive sense of taste in general. For umami
sensitivity, high BMI along with older age predicted lower sensitivity.
Additionally, taste recognition and sensitivity were related in bitter
and umami tastes. Older age was also associated with a poorer capability
in taste recognition. Sour–bitter, umami–salty, and salty–umami were
the most frequent taste confusions.