Food identification, taste complaints, and depression in younger and older adults.

The relationships among the ability to identify food stimuli, self-assessed taste complaints and taste acuity, and depression were examined in younger and older adults. Subjects smelled, tasted, and subsequently identified 10 pureed foods while blindfolded. Subjects also completed a demographic questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Vocabulary subtest. Although an age difference in taste complaints was not found, older adults were poorer at identifying food items, rated their taste acuity as lower, and had higher depression scores than the younger adults. However, the age difference in identifying food items was not due to the age difference in depression, because depression was unrelated to food identification scores for both age groups.