Are you at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease? It appears your nose may know.
In a growing body of research, an inability to identify common scents has been associated with the development of mild cognitive impairment – a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease. Older adults who have difficulty identifying odors such as lemon or cinnamon are more likely to have problems with thinking, learning and memory, according to one such study by Chicago researchers.
That may sound a bit far-fetched. But scientists know that protein deposits called tangles begin to appear in a region of the brain responsible for smell before symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease manifest themselves. An inability to identify some scents has been linked to other neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, and scientists are still attempting to understand why this is.
The findings are raising hopes that doctors may one day be able to administer a sort of “scratch ‘n sniff” test to gauge olfactory abilities as part of determining a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease.