Anecdotal evidence suggests that astronauts' perceptions of foods in space flight may differ from their perceptions of the same foods on Earth. Fluid shifts toward the head experienced in space may alter the astronauts' sensitivity to odors and tastes, producing altered perceptions. Our objective was to determine whether head-down bed rest, which produces similar fluid shifts, would produce changes in sensitivity to taste, odor or trigeminal sensations. Six subjects were rested three times prior to bed rest, three times during bed rest and two times after bed rest to determine their threshold sensitivity to the odors isoamylbutyrate and menthone, the tastants sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid, quinine and monosodium glutamate, and to capsaicin. Thresholds were measured using a modified staircase procedure. Self-reported congestion was also recorded at each test time. Thresholds for monosodium glutamate where slightly higher during bed rest. None of the other thresholds were altered by bed rest.

中文翻译：

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模拟微重力 [卧床休息] 对味道、气味或三叉神经敏感性的影响很小

轶事证据表明，宇航员在太空飞行中对食物的看法可能与他们对地球上相同食物的看法不同。在太空中流向头部的液体可能会改变宇航员对气味和味道的敏感度，从而产生改变的感知。我们的目标是确定产生类似液体变化的低头卧床是否会导致对味觉、气味或三叉神经感觉的敏感性发生变化。六名受试者在卧床前休息 3 次、卧床休息 3 次和卧床休息后 2 次，以确定他们对异戊酸异戊酯和薄荷酮、促味剂蔗糖、氯化钠、柠檬酸、奎宁和谷氨酸单钠的阈值敏感性，以及到辣椒素。使用改进的楼梯程序测量阈值。在每个测试时间也记录了自我报告的拥塞情况。谷氨酸钠的阈值在卧床休息时略高。卧床休息没有改变其他阈值。