When in practice, I get to see a fair number of individuals who have traditionally perplexing health issues. Over the past couple of weeks I experienced a mysterious issue of my own. And I had no idea what was causing it. The symptoms? A bitter, metallic-like taste in my mouth, but only when I ate. Pretty much everything I ate would bring on this symptom, though it would fade quite quickly after eating.
When I have experiences such as this, it’s not my way generally to panic or over-analyse (as perhaps evidenced by the fact that I have had only one doctor’s consultation in the last 20-odd years). I am agreat believer in the self-healing powers of the body, and that most things are self-righting. Sometimes, the best thing to do about an illness or symptom is nothing at all.
Sure enough, after about a week, the symptom disappeared. And I thought nothing more of it, until this morning, when I think I accidentally unearthed what caused my taste-related symptoms. I came across this in a US on-line newspaper. It seems that the cause of my symptoms was pine nuts. Apparently, I was suffering from what is being termed ‘pine mouth’. Eating pines can lead to a bitter/metallic taste in the mouth that can last for days. No-one seems to know what, precisely, is causing the problem, though.
10 days ago I ate some pine nuts as part of salad I had made to accompany some barbeque food. Now I think back, it’s after that that my symptoms developed. I can’t be 100 per cent sure when they disappeared, but think it was the following Saturday (6 days later).
It occurs to me that pine nuts are a reasonably commonly-eaten food. I imagine, therefore, that ‘pine mouth’ is reasonably common. Until this morning, I honestly had not even heard of ‘pine mouth’. I’m hoping this blog might raise some awareness about this issue, and prevent any undue anxiety or needless consultations with healthcare practitioners.
@ SeattleGirl – I get the same thing once every couple of years after coca-cola and other various sweet food. I would like to hear your thoughts on what causes this… a week ago I was out at the movies and had their coca-cola fountain soda.. since then i have had this acidic bitter kinda taste in my mouth (it sort of tastes like vitamin water aftertaste).. I have had it much worse before.. It usually lasts about a week or so. Thankfully its starting to fade but it is still present. I can taste food while i eat but as soon as i stop it is present. I wish i knew what causes it or how to prevent it..
omg thank u so much for this blog my hubby had the same after pine nuts and when i google it this post showed up really helpful. God Bless u
same reaction to pine nuts, the bitter taste showed up when fatty foods were eaten. Since fat carries the flavor, I reasoned that the bitterness was in the body, and the fat brought it out. I also noticed a tingling in my fingers, and ran across an article connecting that to pine nuts, I love them and will continue to have them from time to time, but the bitterness always shows up hours later.
I have had this horrible bitter taste in my mouth for 3 days or so – and wonder whether i have some horrible disease. I haven’t had this before. I read this posting and yep, about 3 days ago I made some basil pine nut pesto and had it for dinner. I will be patient and hope it goes away. If not, will see a doctor.
thanks for the information. I just had the same problem since last week, and that was because I changed my bread to multigrain bread. It contains not only the pine nuts but also other nuts and grains. the bitter taste stays, even thought I have drank a lot of water afterwards.
Thanks again – I may stay away from the nuts.
the bitter taste did go away – and in retracing what I ate, I had some pine nuts imported from China. I have read this is happening frequently. The nuts apparently are a bit rancid. Suspicious because I eat pine nuts with my pesto and haven’t had this problem before. will try organic American or European imports to see if that helps.
Omg, thank you, this helped so much, thought I was sick. Now I just need to wait it out.
)
Ugly, bitter taste be gone
this was a wonderful answer—i had that bitter taste and thought i had some terrible disease—but after reading this acticle—i remembered i had pine nuts in a pilaf 3 or 4 days ago–plus i ate a couple of handfuls straight up—this was extremely helpful and reasuring—thank you!
Lia, thank you, thank you. I haven’t eaten any pine nuts. I was getting so frustrated reading about pine nuts. Until you said multigrain bread. That HAS to be it. Thank you!
Hi Michelle, yup. Your welcome. I’ve gone back to eat brown bread or white bread now. No more bitter taste.
I had the flu and was flat out for the week before easter and flet a little better from a couple of days before easter. Since then I have a bitter taste in my mouth what ever I ate didn’t make any difference no matter how much I clean my teeth. All I seemed to want to eat is sweet things. On the whole I don’t eat alot of sugary things I don’t have excess salt or fried foods only ocassionally. I am a healthy eater. But recently all the foods I consume doesn’t seem to have any taste , just this bitter taste, it is the first time I am experiencing this in my life . Has anybody experience this themselves?
chris