Resumo (EN)
Objective – To evaluate the taste perception in the elderly for the basic tastes, sweet, salty, compared with younge adults. The reduction in mortality and birth occurred in recent decades in Brazil, as part of the phenomenon of demographic transition, led to an increase in the number of elderly. The aging despite being a natural process the body undergoes various anatomical and functional changes, mainly related to taste and smell. Methods – Therefore we conducted a prospective, qualitative, case-control consists of a sample of 40 subjects, 20 adults 18-25 years and 20 aged 60-85 years of both sexes. The instrument was used to assess gustatory test description attributes to detect the taste of fresh and salt concentrations. Results – The results showed that the elderly subjects had to approximately eight times more salt (sodium chloride) than adults to detect the presence of this component is about four times more sugar than adults to detect the presence of the substance. Conclusion – t was concluded that major changes in taste sensitivity for basic tastes, sweet and salty, the elderly compared with adults.