You May Have COVID-19 if Your Food Tastes Like This

By Dana Cruz First Posted: Jan 26, 2021 05:52 AM EST

You May Have COVID-19 If All Your Food Tastes Like Cardboard, Paper

(Photo : Daria Shevtsova from Pexels)

The loss of a person's sense of smell and taste has been a well-documented symptom of COVID-19. But only a few people talk about how it alters the way your food tastes like cardboard or paper.

COVID-19 patients reported that there were major changes in how they tasted food. Notably, many of them tasted their food as if they're eating cardboard and paper, Best Life reported.

"Everything that had really strong flavors, I couldn't taste," 23-year-old Horcel Kamaha told BBC in March.

He couldn't taste any of the food he ate properly for months. "Everything tasted like paper or cardboard," he added.

Other weird tastes came to some COVID-19 patients' palette when they were infected, including the taste of grass when they ate pepper.

"A lot of things smell weirdly like pickles to me, like dill pickles or sweet pickles," reported a 23-year-old south Londoner named Eve narrated. "I know that sounds silly as I am lucky to have recovered but food is a huge source of happiness for me."

This condition is known as parosmia, which is characterized as a lingering, foul-smelling scent and altered sense of taste.

It's something unique to COVID-19 and rarely seen in other infections. This is why experts believe it is the best way to determine if a person is infected by COVID-19.

There are other symptoms that people still have to watch out for if they feel like they were infected. In some cases, people experience skin rashes or diarrhea.

How Does COVID-19 Affect the Way Food Tastes?

The Times of India reported that there are no known links as to how the virus affects a person's taste and smell buds.

Experts say it is very uncommon for upper respiratory infections to affect these senses. However, a study published in the medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine found that the coronavirus binds to a protein in the human body called the ACE-2.

ACE-2 can be seen on surfaces of different organs like the heart, lungs, throat, gut, and nose. This may be the cause for the temporary loss of a person's sense of taste.

To test one's sense of smell or taste, it is best to sample food with strong and different smells or tastes like coffee, cinnamon, citrus fruits, or garlic. If a person struggles with these distinct characteristics in food, they may be experiencing a loss of senses.

Other COVID-19 Symptoms May Be Overlooked by Experts

"I got a lot of, 'Everything tastes like cardboard' and 'I can't smell anything'," otolaryngology professor Rachel Kaye told NPR. At the time, patients did not demonstrate any common COVID-19 symptoms.

But over a span of a week and a half, some of them tested positive for the coronavirus or lived with people who were COVID-19 positive.

For Kaye, this could mean more symptoms related to COVID-19 are being overlooked by doctors and public health officials, beyond other known symptoms like shortness of breath and cough.

However, there is no statistically measurable way to measure the loss of senses across many COVID-19 patients. Many things are still left in the dark when it comes to COVID-19 symptoms, and not everyone experiences the same thing.