We also excluded patients who had: (i) altered mentation, severe aphasia or cognitive dysfunction (scored≤23 on the Mini Mental State Examination)14, in whom reliable taste testing was not possible; (ii) a nasogastric feeding tube because of severe dysphagia; (iii) concurrent malignancy, heart failure or severe renal disease; (iv) a previous history of stroke or a recent (< 3 months) head trauma; (v) transient ischemic attack without progression to stroke; (vi) imaging study results that did not show findings consistent with the neurologic deficits or showed multiple, bilateral or diffuse ischemic brain lesions; and (vii) subarachnoid hemorrhage and venous infarction.