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Dementia and appetite loss: how to help a loved one to keep eating and drinking when their sense of taste changes

  • For writer Anthea Rowan, seeing her mother’s appetite loss was devastating, and trying to keep her interested in food and drink was a real challenge
  • About 70 per cent of Alzheimer’s patients experience taste changes; a Hong Kong professor explains why – and offers 7 helpful tips to keep them eating

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Taste changes are common in dementia and can affect up to 70 per cent of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, who may start to refuse food. Photo: Shutterstock
This is the 35th instalment in a series on dementia, including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope.
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There were many things about my mother’s Alzheimer’s disease that were devastating – many things beyond her “forgetting”.

There was her late-stage paranoia, the terrible hallucinations she suffered, the fact she did not believe I was her daughter.

But one of the saddest was witnessing her loss of appetite.

When a person with dementia starts resisting eating healthy meals and shows a preference for confectionery, it can be challenging to manage their dietary choices. Photo: Shutterstock
When a person with dementia starts resisting eating healthy meals and shows a preference for confectionery, it can be challenging to manage their dietary choices. Photo: Shutterstock

When she first came to live with me, she ate with enthusiasm, eager to try everything. She enjoyed mealtimes, an occasion to be social, a chance to sample something she was certain she had never ever eaten in her life before, ever: yogurt, avocado, a slice of pizza.

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