bubble_chart Concept

A bland taste in the mouth refers to a diminished sense of taste, where one feels a lack of flavor and is unable to discern the taste of food and drink. This condition is often accompanied by symptoms such as a lack of appetite and poor digestion. In traditional terms, this condition is also referred to as "bland taste in mouth" or "inability to taste."

bubble_chart Pattern Analysis

1. Spleen-stomach Weakness︰Bland taste in mouth, loss of appetite, lack of desire to eat, mental fatigue, shortness of breath, lack of strength, gastric stuffiness, abdominal distension and fullness, loose stool, pale tongue with thin coating, weak and slow pulse. This condition arises from dietary irregularities, severe vomiting or diarrhea, prolonged illness leading to poor nourishment, and other factors that cause spleen and stomach qi deficiency, impairing their transportation and transformation functions, resulting in loss of appetite and bland taste in mouth. Due to spleen deficiency and impaired movement, symptoms such as mental fatigue, shortness of breath, lack of strength, abdominal distension and fullness, loose stool, pale tongue, and weak pulse may also occur. Treatment should focus on tonifying qi, invigorating the spleen, and harmonizing the stomach. The recommended prescription is Cyperus, Amomum and Six Gentlemen Decoction, with the addition of charred rice and germinated barley.
2. Dampness Obstructing the Middle Jiao︰Bland taste in mouth, sticky and greasy, loss of appetite, anorexia, chest and gastric stuffiness, nausea with a desire to vomit, loose stool, tongue coating white and greasy or yellow and greasy, pulse soggy. It may be caused by external dampness invading the spleen and stomach, or by dietary injury leading to impaired spleen transportation, resulting in internal generation of dampness turbidity. Dampness obstructs the middle energizer, hence the bland taste in the mouth, sticky and greasy, and inability to perceive the flavor of food. This is due to dampness obstruction impairing transportation. Accompanied by symptoms such as sticky and greasy sensation in the mouth, nausea, chest stuffiness, greasy tongue coating, and soggy pulse, which are signs of dampness obstruction in the spleen and stomach. Treatment should focus on aromatic turbidity-dispersing, resolving dampness to awaken the stomach. Recommended formulas include Patchouli, Magnolia Bark, Pinellia and Poria Decoction, Three-Kernel Decoction, etc.

The sense of taste in humans is related to the spleen and stomach, as mentioned in the Lingshu．Maidu chapter, which states, "Spleen qi connects to the mouth, and when the spleen is harmonious, the mouth can discern the flavors of the five grains." A bland taste in the mouth is often associated with impaired functioning of the spleen and stomach. The disease causes may include spleen and stomach qi deficiency or dampness obstruction in the spleen and stomach. Clinically, it is not difficult to differentiate based on the characteristics of symptoms and signs.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Jingyue Quanshu．Volume 26: "For example, the symptom of bland taste in mouth, after great labor, profuse sweating, or severe illness, can all cause a bland taste in mouth and loss of flavor. Can it all be due to stomach fire? Therefore, when encountering this, if there is no fire pattern or fire pulse, it should not be attributed to internal heat from overexertion, and cold or cool herbs should not be recklessly used." "Those who overthink or indulge excessively in sexual desires often experience symptoms of bitter taste in mouth, dry tongue, and loss of appetite. The fault lies not in the heart and spleen, but in the liver and kidneys."