The following article was directed towards throat
cancer patients who'd lost their sense of taste due
to radiation therapy. However, since Parkinson's
patients also lose much, if not all, of their sense of
taste due to PD, rather than any treatment or therapy,
I couldn't help but wonder if the taste restoring benefits
mentioned in the article might not benefit the PD community.
Has anyone here on the List used zinc sulfate for ANY
reason and found their sense of taste happened to benefit?
Barb Mallut
[log in to unmask]
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NEW YORK (Reuters) -- People who have radiation
treatment for head and neck cancer often lose their sense
of taste, but zinc sulfate tablets can help reduce this side
effect, and also resolve the problem more rapidly, report
Italian investigators in the May 15th issue of Cancer.
Results from previous clinical trials suggested that
zinc sulfate tablets ``-both prevent and correct taste
abnormalities-'' in head and neck cancer patients
undergoing radiation therapy.
In an attempt to confirm this in a controlled setting,
the group randomly assigned 18 head and neck
cancer patients to take a placebo (''dummy'' pills)
or 45 milligrams of oral zinc sulfate three times a
day at the onset of any taste abnormalities related
to radiotherapy. The patients took the tablets for up
to 30 days following treatment.
Dr. Carla Ripamonti and colleagues from the
National Cancer Institute of Milan, Italy, report
that zinc sulfate was well tolerated and ``-slowed
down the worsening and accelerated the improvement
of taste acuity in a clinically and statistically relevant
way.'' Zinc-treated patients also tended to recover
their ``taste sensitivity'' more quickly than patients
who received a placebo.
The team believes, based on these findings, that
oral zinc sulfate administration could become
`routine'' in the care of head and neck cancer
patients undergoing radiotherapy.
SOURCE: Cancer (1998;82:1938-1945)
