TOPIC DISCUSSION: Ageusia and ACEI/ARBS

Has anyone noted any cases of ageusia and ACEI/ARB use? Loss of taste has been reported in few case reports of these classes of agents. How does this work? Zinc depletion leads to taste disturbances. Few other drugs such as thiamazole, penicillamine cause ageusia due to zinc depletion. The active site of binding or ACEI has zinc ions. It is speculated that due to this binding, the zinc availability is decreased (perhaps more in zinc deficient patients from baseline) and leading to taste loss. Stopping the medication usually reverses it. Although when cases were looked at closely, zinc levels were normal and zinc supplementation did not return taste don't support this hypothesis.
Perhaps another mechanism might be at play

Take a look at these references:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/394799
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8618505
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8618505
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15185557