Gastronomic displeasure? When medicines alter taste and food enjoyment

Medicines can extend life and improve health. Yet some may also alter taste and thereby compromise food enjoyment, pleasure, appetite, and the broader gastronomic experience of food and beverage consumption. This study examined reports involving taste alterations in the European pharmacovigilance database to identify the medicinal products most frequently reported and to discuss their relevance for gastronomy and food science. A descriptive analysis was conducted using publicly available aggregated reports from 2016 to 2025. Cases including at least one MedDRA Preferred Term within the High Level Term “Taste disorders” were retrieved, and suspected/interacting medicinal products were analysed. A total of 76,617 cases were identified. Reporting rose sharply in 2021 and 2022, remained above pre-2021 levels thereafter, and was more frequently recorded in women and in adults and older adults. Dysgeusia was the most frequently reported term, followed by ageusia, while not recovered/not resolved outcomes were more common than recovered/resolved outcomes. The most frequently reported therapeutic groups were vaccines, antineoplastic agents, immunosuppressants, and systemic antibacterials. At product level, COVID-19 vaccines predominated, but commonly used community medicines such as clarithromycin, terbinafine, metronidazole, and semaglutide also appeared prominently. These findings suggest that reports involving taste alterations are not limited to specialised care and may have implications for everyday eating, food pleasure, and nutritional vulnerability. From a gastronomy and food science perspective, the results support greater attention to sensory-adapted counselling, menu design, and culinary-nutritional strategies to support individuals experiencing taste alterations and disruptions in eating enjoyment.