A staggering 139 medical conditions are linked to the power of olfactory loss and inflammation, the researchers from the Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences, in conjunction with The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities say.
This research—led by professor Emeritus Michael Leon, and researchers Cynthia Woo and Emily Troscianko—emphasises a little-known but potentially life-altering connection: the importance of our sense of smell in driving our physical and mental health.
This work appears in Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. According to this research, olfactory dysfunction, previously considered a mere minor inconvenience, may be an early sign of neurological and bodily disease.
“Particularly interesting data because we had already found that olfactory enrichment can increase the memory of older people by 226%,” Leon said. “The fact that pleasant scents induce a decrease in inflammation, and we now know that, means that the idea that pleasant scents could improve brain health may be happening through the same mechanism,” they said.
He added, the fact that this could have key implications for treating symptoms or even reducing the onset of some diseases through therapeutic olfactory stimulation, is a very interesting finding.
The study details how it methodically tracked 139 conditions that show a correlation between loss of smell and rise in inflammation, with a focus on understanding similarities within a path that leads to both. Loss of the sense of smell—often preceding diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s—could provide an early sign of disease onset and one that allows for more proactive therapeutic approaches.
“It took a lot of studying to find so many medical conditions for olfactory loss,” Leon said, describing how difficult it was to link olfactory loss to so many disparate diseases. He added that the challenge emphasises why framing olfactory health as part of a broader picture of good health is important.
This research showed that olfactory enrichment could lessen inflammation in the nose and lays a foundation for future studies from which we might learn how scents can be used therapeutically for a variety of medical conditions.
Now working on a device to deliver olfactory therapy, which might serve as a novel, non-invasive means of improving health outcomes, Leon is together with Woo.
With more science uncovering the incredible ways our senses affect health, this research underlies an important need for more olfactory therapy studies.
Reference: Team M. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. Frontiers
‌
