If your nose is blocked from a virus, the odors can’t reach the sensory cells in your nose and food ends up tasting bland. When smell is lost, taste generally follows. They do this by damaging the cells that detect odors and cause swelling in the nose, limiting airflow to the smell receptors. For the latest information on COVID-19, please check out resources from the WHO, the CDC, and local public health departments.Viral infections, like the flu, colds and COVID-19, can affect your smell and taste temporarily (anosmia). POPSUGAR aims to give you the most accurate and up-to-date information about the coronavirus, but details and recommendations about this pandemic may have changed since publication. 'Work is always being done and something may come up in the near future,' he said. Kumar noted that this may change soon and result in more concrete, reliable steps to take. Posina told POPSUGAR.Īlthough there aren't currently any published studies or research about how to regain taste after COVID-19, Dr. 'It takes three to four months of time,' Dr. However, both experts stressed that this strategy requires patience. Kumar noted that this training could help the sensing cells regenerate more quickly. Think of it as relearning your environment.ĭr. The concept is simple: 'One gets a series of strong smelling items like coffee, cinnamon, and citrus, and smells each remembering how they smelled before the illness,' Dr. One approach that appears to have some impact is smell training. Is There Anything Else You Can Do to Get Your Sense of Taste Back?

Simple things like eating an orange are harmless, but if a strategy sounds like it could have any potential dangers, speak with your doctor before trying it. However, he cautioned that you should exercise judgment with any potential remedies you find on the internet.

Of course, there's no harm in trying it - at least oranges, even charred ones, are nutritious, Dr. 'That's why it's difficult to believe that eating a burnt orange with brown sugar may work.' 'The mechanism of loss of smell and taste in COVID-19 is thought to be due to its effect on neurons, unlike the common cold,' explained Sunitha Posina, MD, a board-certified internist in New York City who works on the frontlines with COVID-19 patients. Kumar added that there's no evidence that eating a charred orange is effective, and it's possible that people who have tried this remedy believe it worked because they coincidentally were recovering at the time they tried it.

'Everything that's reported on the internet is anecdotal.'ĭr. 'There are no known systematically studied methods that have restored smell and taste in recovering patients,' explained Amit Kumar, PhD, a researcher and scientist and CEO of Anixa Biosciences, a company that's working to develop therapies and vaccines focused on critical unmet needs in infectious disease. Will Eating a Burnt Orange Help Recover Your Sense of Taste?

How can yo get your taste buds back