Self-Check Your Health Based on the Taste in Your Mouth
Introduction: If you've recently experienced an abnormal taste in your mouth, such as bitterness or sweetness, please be on alert. This could be a sign of certain diseases.
Self-Check Your Health Based on the Taste in Your Mouth
(1) Sweet Taste: Refers to the self-perception of a sweet taste in the mouth, also known as Gan Kou. It is mostly caused by damp-heat in the spleen and stomach.
(2) Bitter Taste: Mostly caused by heat in the liver and gallbladder, with the qi of the gallbladder steaming upwards.
(3) Sour Taste: Mostly caused by heat from the liver and gallbladder invading the spleen.
(4) Spicy Taste: A spicy or numbing sensation on the tongue, mostly caused by excessive lung heat or inflammation of the spleen fire.
(5) Fragrant Taste: If one perceives a fragrant taste in the mouth, it is often seen in diabetic patients.
(6) Bland Taste: Refers to a tasteless mouth with no enjoyment from food. It is commonly seen in patients with spleen and stomach deficiency-cold or poor transportation and transformation due to spleen deficiency.
(7) Foul Breath: A foul odor in the mouth. If the breath is sour and foul, it is caused by indigestion and undigested food remaining in the stomach.
(8) Salty Taste: The self-perception of a salty taste in the mouth, commonly seen in patients with kidney deficiency.
(9) Astringent Taste: Often seen in patients with liver heat due to gallbladder depression or with a failing spleen and stomach. It can also occur due to reduced saliva gland secretion from severe psychoneurosis or after working a night shift. The late stages of various cancers can also cause a bitter and astringent taste.
(10) Greasy Taste: Common in patients with wind-cold common cold, bronchiectasis, or phlegm-fluid retention. At the same time, overindulging in rich and greasy foods (like fatty meats, sugar, etc.) can impair the digestive function of the spleen and stomach, also leading to a greasy sensation in the mouth.