If you’re reading this, you probably know that your compounding pharmacist can sometimes work miracles with meds for kids, adding flavors or even turning a liquid into a lollipop.
But some medication is so bitter — and some people are so sensitive to tastes — that a spoonful of sugar ain’t gonna help it go down. Adults can (usually) buck up and swallow, but try convincing a five-year-old how important it is to take his Augmentin.
To the rescue are the researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philly. Despite living in Eagles territory, they actually have something useful to contribute to society: They’ve identified “the first temporary, universal taste blocker.”
“Remarkably, and unlike our experience with blockers of bitter taste receptors, the taste-nerve blocker we tested worked for every subject and every bitter compound we tested.”
That’s a breakthrough because the tongue has several kinds of bitter taste buds, and blocking one didn’t mean blocking the others; you would need a different “bitter blocker” for each yucky med.
The only downsides to their new compound, called AF-353, is that once you put it on the tongue it lasts 60-90 minutes and it also affects other tastes. That means you couldn’t give Junior some ice cream as a treat for taking his meds.
