Researchers
find that patients with Alzheimer's disease tend to lose their sense
of smell in this nostril.
Think
you may be in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease? Crack
open your cupboards and break into a jar of peanut butter. It's
the test that researchers have found may help to indicate early
stages of the disease.
Researchers
at the University of Florida used peanut butter in a recent study to
determine patients’ loss of smell in one nostril compared to the
other. They found that patients who were experiencing the early
stages of Alzheimer’s disease tend to lose their sense of smell in
one nostril more frequently than the other. Which one? The
left.
It
turns out, peanut butter is what researchers refer to as a "perfect
odorant." In other words, it's a scent that is detected
exclusively by the olfactory nerve. In contrast, most other
smells are also noted by the trigeminal nerve. This nerve plays
a key role in sensations that are felt in the face. But when it
comes to Alzheimer's disease, it's all about the olfactory nerve.
Dysfunction in this nerve is a good indication of degradation
occuring elsewhere in the brain.
In
other words, a problem here indicates other problems that might be
going on in the brain.
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