Can Taste Aversion Be A Sign Of A Mental Health Condition?
Taste aversion is when a person associates the taste of certain foods or liquids with a negative effect, like sickness or gastrointestinal discomfort. For example, if you ate tomato soup for lunch and then had an upset stomach, you might stop eating tomato soup or feel sick when you smell it—even if the soup actually had nothing to do with you getting sick in the first place.
According to the American Psychological Association, conditioned taste aversions—or those that are caused by a negative experience—can take effect quickly and may be long lasting. A single incident is often enough to produce the effect, and it can happen even if there’s a long delay between ingesting the food or drink and feeling sick.
What causes food aversion?
Researchers do not yet know the exact cause of food aversions, but they may have to do with hormonal changes. For example, the same hormones that cause food cravings in pregnant people may also cause food aversions. Hormones like these can also cause nausea, which could lead someone to associate a food they recently ate with feeling sick or vomiting.
Conditioned taste aversions may also be related to sensory issues. For someone with an underlying sensory processing disorder, such as autism spectrum disorder, many things can make them associate certain foods with a negative stimulus; it doesn’t necessarily have to be taste. For example, people with sensory processing issues may not like how a particular food looks, smells, or feels in their mouth, or the food may be too hot, too cold, or difficult to swallow.
If you’re experiencing challenges related to eating and/or symptoms of an eating disorder, meeting with a doctor or nutritionist is generally recommended.
Classical conditioning
Theories on food aversions are often linked to classical conditioning. Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning by accident in the 1890s when he was researching the digestion of dogs. He noticed that the dogs went from salivating when food was placed in front of them to salivating just before their food arrived. Pavlov realized the dogs were reacting to the noises they heard when their food was on the way.
To test this, he set up an experiment where he rang a bell before presenting the food to the dogs. Eventually, they began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone. In this experiment, the food was the unconditioned stimulus and salivating was the unconditioned response. These two things were naturally related: the dogs salivated when they had food.
The bell began as a neutral stimulus that had nothing to do with the food or salivating but became the conditioned stimulus once it elicited salivation, which was the conditioned response. While this finding was significant, it worked with a neutral stimulus. Decades later, another psychologist would undertake a set of experiments to identify the effects when negative stimuli were involved.
The Garcia effect
In the 1950s, a psychologist named John Garcia demonstrated taste aversion in a lab setting. Garcia was examining the effects of radiation exposure on rats when he noticed that those that were given water in plastic bottles before being radiated started to avoid drinking from those bottles, choosing to drink from glass ones instead. Garcia speculated that the plastic gave the water a taste that the rats associated with getting sick. He tested this theory by giving them saccharine-flavored water during radiation exposure—and the rats soon began to avoid that flavored water. This aversion lasted months, even though it was only paired with radiation a single time.
Garcia studied this phenomenon further by conducting an experiment in which rats licked a spout that gave them saccharine-flavored water paired with flashing lights and a clicking sound. The rats were irradiated while they drank the sweetened water, saw the flashing lights, and heard the clicking noises, all at the same time.
The rats began avoiding the saccharine solution when it was offered to them alone, without the light and sound. However, they continued to drink from the spout when it had plain, unsweetened water and was paired with the other stimuli. Garcia theorized that the rats more strongly associated the taste of the saccharine water with radiation sickness than the light or the clicker, even though all three were paired with feeling ill. He then paired the saccharine water, lights, and clicker with an electrical shock instead of radiation poisoning. The rats then associated the lights and sounds with the shock, not the sweetened water.
So while the theory of classical conditioning posits that any neutral stimuli could be associated with any conditioned response, Garcia’s experiment demonstrated that, in some cases, specific stimuli can lead to specific responses. Because of his work in this area, conditioned taste aversion is sometimes called the Garcia effect.
Taste aversion and eating disorders
Some research suggests that taste aversion may play a role in some types of eating disorders. For example, one review examined learning theory, the development of eating regulation, and the processes involved in controlling how much is eaten in those with eating disorders and those without. One of the areas on which researchers focused was taste aversions and how they have the potential to override the biological need to eat, leading to food restriction. For instance, some speculate that eating food may elicit disgust and become “intrinsically revolting” in people with anorexia nervosa.
GI disturbances that result from malnutrition may reinforce this disgust, but some reports suggest that taste aversions can be elicited without any physical illness at all in people with anorexia. The expectations of the impact of food on the body—specifically, gaining weight—may result in self-disgust, which may lead to taste aversion in those living with anorexia.
People with eating disorders may also have thoughts about how eating anything at all will cause them to gain weight, which can make all foods taste bad or cause GI upset after eating anything. People with these types of food aversions might be more likely to generalize them to other foods, and these aversions may also be more challenging to overcome.
When do food aversions require treatment?
Food or taste aversions can sometimes go away on their own in time, but they can also be a sign of an eating disorder—symptoms of which will not typically go away without professional treatment. Symptoms of eating disorders can vary depending on the person, the type of eating disorder, and its severity, but some general signs can include:
- Extremely restricted eating
- Intense fear of gaining weight
- Dramatic restriction of the type of or amount of food eaten
- Lack of interest in food
- Abdominal pain or upset stomach with no other known cause
- Limited range of preferred foods
Eating disorders can be treated. Treatment plans may include medical care and monitoring, nutritional counseling, and psychotherapy. People with eating disorders are also more likely to have other mental health conditions, like anxiety or depression, so treatment may involve treating any of these co-occurring illnesses as well.
While online therapy is not appropriate for every case—such as severe instances in which an individual needs immediate medical care or supervision—it can be a more approachable way for some individuals with an eating disorder to seek care. With an online therapy platform like BetterHelp, you can work with a licensed therapist from the comfort of your own home, and you can change therapists at any time for no additional fee until you find a good fit.
Research indicates that online treatment may be an effective way to address symptoms of eating disorders. One study from 2020 suggests that online cognitive behavioral therapy was effective in reducing eating disorder pathology and body dissatisfaction and improving physical and mental health, social functioning, self-esteem, and quality of life in participants. This study also reports that these results were sustained up to one year post-treatment.
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Takeaway
Taste aversions can occur quickly, even after a single exposure. Some taste aversions can disappear on their own over time. Others may be a sign of an eating disorder, a type of condition that typically does not resolve without professional treatment. If you’re experiencing extremely restricted eating or other potential signs of an eating disorder, you might consider consulting with a mental health professional for support. Speaking with a therapist online or in person can often be the first step toward receiving care.
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