Users of the well-known video-sharing app TikTok are certain they can recover their sense of taste and smell after Covid-19 robbed them of it using a home cure that involves roasting an orange over an open flame and nibbling on the flesh combined with brown sugar.
Many people have documented their startled responses to tasting their favourite meals for the first time in weeks, but specialists argue that there is no scientific evidence to support the claim that the Jamaican culture-based treatment genuinely works.
Dr. Bozena Wrobel, an otolaryngologist at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California who specialises in head and neck disorders, including those of the ears, nose, and throat, explained to their followers in December that taste loss associated with Covid-19 is caused by the loss of olfaction, which is your sense of smell.
The Covid-19 virus has no effect on your taste senses.
Some [TikTokkers] may have already recovered from their scent loss since Covid-19 smell loss ultimately gets better in the majority of people, Wrobel stated in the video series.
After tasting a teaspoon of mustard in the home-made drink and admitting "it might definitely be a coincidence," TikTok user @tiktoksofiesworld said.
She added, "I am not a doctor or medical professional and in no way suggesting this gives back your sense of taste," on her Instagram page. After witnessing others do it at home, this film was made for entertainment or out of curiosity.
"The fact that the first Covid symptoms appeared two weeks ago today may just be a coincidence. I simply had to mention it.“
@toosmxll How to get taste buds back!!! #howto #tastebud #lifehacks #health #fyp #remedy ♬ Steven Universe - L.Dre
According to a TikTok video by Dr. Pamela Dalton, a researcher at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, the strong orange taste may also be shocking people's senses to the point where they mistakenly believe their taste buds have returned when in reality they were always there, just muted.
The video quotes Dalton as saying that "people often don't know how much smell they lost, so if they do something that's really intense, like burning an orange peel, that will give you an extraordinary sensation, you may have already had an ability, but you've essentially shocked your system into smelling something strong."
According to Healthline, some people who take the cure could also be suffering from phantosmia, a disorder that makes you see odours that aren't really there.
Allergies, common colds, and upper respiratory tract infections are typical causes. "I can tell you that the room smells like bananas. There might not actually be an odour of bananas in the air, but you'll hunt for it and may mistakenly believe you can smell them. In the next TikTok video, Dalton says, "There's a massive suggestibility aspect.
Smell training, which entails sniffing various odours multiple times each day for months, is thought by experts to be able to assist Covid-19 sufferers regain their senses.
To test the theory on individuals who have recovered from coronavirus infection, the Washington University School of Medicine is organising a clinical trial.
The school believes that more than "Over 27 million people worldwide have had Covid-related smell or taste loss" since the pandemic hit, and that the loss of smell and taste "appears to persist in roughly 10% of afflicted patients six months post infection."
As a result, post-Covid olfactory dysfunction is a significant public health issue. Therefore, it is vital to find effective therapies.
According to registered dietitian Ginger Hultin, charring an orange "doesn't appear to develop" carcinogenic compounds like those in charred meat. Furthermore, there are even less worries because consumers just consume the fruit's inside and not its peel.
Hultin did, however, raise concerns about the process's inherent safety. "What worries me the most is how people burn their oranges in their kitchens over an open flame. It would be simple for nearby objects to catch fire.
An examination of electronic medical data revealed that, in comparison to persons without a coronavirus infection, Covid-19 patients are only 2.2 to 2.6 times as likely to experience fever, cough, or respiratory trouble as they are to lose their sense of smell.
Although there is no proof that eating the interior of a charred orange with brown sugar may restore one's sense of smell and taste, there is also no proof that the at-home therapy can be harmful to one's health.