Watch your sense of smell!

Sense of smell proved to be a reliable predictor of death

Medical Daily News: Longevity Measured By Sense Of Smell Spells Bad News For The Noseblind

The deterioration of vision and hearing in old age is perceived as a natural process. Age-related weakening of the sense of smell is usually paid less attention. Scientists from Columbia University have shown the exceptional importance of blunting the recognition of odors: if a person loses the skill to detect unique odors, then his risk of death increases.

In the study, 1,169 participants in the Medicare insurance program (for people over 65 years old) were given 40 strips with different odorous substances and asked them to identify each flavor, offering answers.

It turned out that among the subjects with the worst results on this questionnaire, the mortality rate over the next two years was 45%. For those who received high scores on the questionnaire, this indicator was at the level of only 18%.

These data confirmed previous observations of researchers that loss of sense of smell is an important factor in predicting premature death.

However, researchers do not attribute a magical predictive gift to the nose. Apparently, olfactory receptors are the first to react to more generalized processes in the body. The study left several questions open. For example, it is unclear what is the relationship with the life expectancy of young and middle-aged people if they have olfactory disorders.

It has previously been shown that the sense of smell can be used to "predict" and evaluate memory and female fertility.

Article by Devanand et al. Olfactory identification deficiencies and increased mortality in the community is published in the journal Annals of Neurology – VM.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru09.06.2015