Childhood Cancer

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Childhood Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors

Changes in taste and smell

Chemotherapy can cause changes in the taste buds, altering the brain’s perception of how food tastes. Meats often taste bitter and sweets can taste unpleasant. Even foods that children crave can taste bad. The sense of smell is also affected by chemotherapy, heightening smells that other family members do not notice and sometimes causing nausea in the child on chemotherapy.

Both the senses of smell and taste can take months to return to normal after chemotherapy ends. During chemotherapy and radiation treatment, it is best to avoid favorite foods that do not taste the same, so that when treatment ends they can be enjoyed once again.

Once Katy begged me to make her my special double chocolate sour cream cake. Surprisingly, it smelled really good to her as it baked. She took a big bite, spit it out all over the table, and ran back to her room sobbing. She cried for a long time. She told me later that it had tasted “bitter and horrible.”

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