There was an article in the Washington Post Health section last week about people who had lost all sense of smell (and as a result, great reduction in sense of taste). A number of readers sent in letters which related their own experiences. Several people said they had been helped by taking zinc (this is based on several research studies) and another said she only got relief with acupuncture, but it worked within a few treatments.

The zinc studies say taking "excess of normal requirements" of Zn restored taste in a numer of post-radiation patients, as I recall Zn is necessary in production of an enzyme involved in taste.

There is a lot of info both on the OCF web site itself and in this forum on "taste" -- do a search on the latter and check the "side-effects" section on the web site main area.

The sense of smell is vital to "tasting" flavors -- otherwise we taste salty, sweet, bitter but not complex flavors. So I would also have him consult with an ENT to make sure he does not have some compromise of his sense of smell as well. Radiation could have damaged this, or he could have an unrelated issue affecting it (apparently long-term untreated sinus infections, for one, can do this).

Good luck,
Gail