The loss of smell is known as “olfactory dysfunction.” Researchers at the University of Chicago believe it to be a more powerful omen as to when someone will die than cancer, lung, or heart disease. “We think loss of the sense of smell is like the canary in the coal mine. It doesn’t directly cause death, but it’s a harbinger — an early warning that something has gone badly wrong, that damage has been done,” reported Dr. Javant Pinto, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Chicago.
The National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NHAP) conducted a study amongst a group of 3,000 Americans between the ages of 57 and 85. One of the control groups was sense of smell: participants sniffed five different felt-tip pens, each embodying a different familiar scent – peppermint, leather, rose, and orange. Based on how the participants identified the scents, surveyors rated their ability as being low, moderate, or healthy.
Five years later, the NHAP contacted the same 3,000 participants and discovered that 39% of those who scored low on the smell test had passed away compared to only 19% of those who achieved moderate score, and 10% of participants with a healthy score. In turn, this means that people of late-middle age and older with “low” smelling ability have three times the likelihood of dying earlier than those with a “healthy” sense of smell.
Yet scientists are stumped as to why loss of smell is such an influential predictor of mortality. There are current beliefs that olfactory dysfunction is a result of toxic environmental exposures, or that the body is struggling to regenerate cells.
University of Chicago researchers tested to find correlations between Alzheimer’s, poor nutrition, and lung and cardiovascular disease but couldn’t draw any connections. All that can be deciphered is lack of smell is a severe indicator that something’s wrong, and it should demand further investigation into the person’s health.
(Photo courtesy of UCL Mathematical and Physical Sciences)
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