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Updated: Aug 8, 2026
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Measuring Oral Fatty Acid Thresholds, Fat Perception, Fatty Food Liking, and Papillae Density in Humans
Published on: June 4, 2014
High altitude effects on human taste intensity and hedonics
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine
|December 31, 1997
Summary
High altitude exposure alters taste perception, increasing preference for sweetness. These changes in taste hedonicity may be linked to nutritional stress and return to normal at sea level.
Area of Science:
- Human Physiology
- Sensory Science
- Altitude Medicine
Background:
- Study involved human volunteers exposed to 3500 m altitude for three weeks.
- Investigated the physiological and sensory responses to high altitude (HA) conditions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the impact of HA hypoxic stress on taste perception.
- To evaluate changes in taste thresholds, intensity, and hedonicity.
Main Methods:
- Volunteers rated sweet, salty, sour, and bitter compounds.
- Taste parameters (threshold, intensity, hedonicity) were measured using a category scale.
- Blood sugar levels were monitored weekly.
Main Results:
- Increased taste thresholds for glucose and sodium chloride; decreased thresholds for quinine sulfate and citric acid.
- Taste intensity correlated linearly with concentration; hedonicity showed an inverted 'U' function.
- No changes in blood sugar levels; all parameters normalized upon return to sea level.
Conclusions:
- HA hypoxic stress alters hedonic responses, notably increasing palatability for sweetness.
- Speculated mechanism involves anorexia-linked nutritional stress.
- Sensory adaptations to altitude are largely reversible.
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