The elderly lose their sense of taste from medications and just plain old age. One little lady at age 93 would only eat sweets because that was all she could taste. Thankfully, she wasn’t diabetic.
Trying to get them to eat some plant based diet when a sense of taste is gone, textures of food can be nauseating and dentures don’t fit anymore along with the sheer fatigue many feel is hard.
Yes, we let her have the cookies and cake. And Ensure.
Sweet sensory on the tongue is the last to go in the elderly.