Zinc Sulfate Supplements, Don’t Help Head and Neck Cancer Patients Regain Altered Sense of Taste

Alteration of the sense of taste is a common side effect for head and neck cancer patients after radiation therapy and supplementation of zinc sulfate has been thought to help quickly regain the sense of taste in this patient population.

Now, in a new study recently released by the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics (the official journal of ASTRO), zinc sulfate has been found to have no significant impact in either preventing or curing taste alteration in these radiation therapy-treated cancer patients.

According to Michele Y. Halyard, M.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona:

“The results of this study were disappointing in that we hoped that zinc sulfate would help patients maintain their taste based on prior pilot data. However, I am glad that we were able to definitely rule out the use of zinc at this dose level so we can further explore other promising treatments to help patients maintain their quality of life during and after treatment.”

Read the full report.