[The application of waterless empirical taste test（WETT） in 159 Chinese healthy subjects].

This study examined the influences of age and gender on the taste function of a sizable sample of healthy Chinese subjects using the Waterless Empirical Taste Test（WETT）, and provided scientific evidences for taste evaluation in clinic. A total of 159 subjects were tested based on strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. The 53 stimuli strips, presented on monomer cellulose pads, were designed to test 5 basic taste functions including sour, sweet, bitter, salty and umami of all subjects. The analysis was computed in SAS 9.4 statistical software. The total taste score of the subjects was 35.00±8.94; the average test administration time was（21.61±7.80） min. The total test scores decreased across age categories（young group: 37.41±8.12, middle-aged group: 34.48±9.04, elderly group: 29.31±8.64）, the correlation coefficient between the total test scores and age was =-0.335, <0.05. There were significant differences in sour and bitter scores among different age groups（=0.019, <0.001）. Overall, women outperformed men on the total test（[36.53±8.72]vs[32.93±8.87], =0.012）. There were correlations among individual taste of scores, and the correlation coefficient between umami and total score was the strongest（=0.700，<0.05）. This study demonstrated that a simple self-administered taste test, the WETT, could be applied to Chinese healthy people. Age and gender-effects are the main factors which affect gustatory function.