Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health
Grow Youthful: How to Slow Your Aging and Enjoy Extraordinary Health

Smell (olfaction)

What is the sense of smell?

Smell disorders

Causes of smell disorders

Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for smell disorders

References

What is the sense of smell?

Smell (olfaction) is the ability to detect specific odorous molecules passing through the nasal cavities. It is essential for animals to be able to smell foods, poisons, weather, water sources and dangers such as predators and smoke, so smell is usually their most important sense.

Humans have about 10 square cm (1.6 sq in) of olfactory epithelium, whereas some dogs have 170 cm (26 sq in). (1)

A loss of smell can happen at any age, but more so with older people. If affects at least 1.5% of all people. Loss of smell can be temporary, permanent or intermittent.

Usually land organisms have separate olfaction systems for smell and taste, but water-dwelling organisms have only one system.

Humans and some other animals are able to smell potential sex partners, and prefer partners with MHC genes different to their own, thus avoiding incest and inbreeding.

Food is tasteless if you have lost your sense of smell. Taste and smell are closely interlinked, and if smell is cut off then taste ceases to function. The sense of smell contributes to taste during exhalation. In contrast, smelling occurs when you breathe in (inhalation).

Smell disorders

Causes of smell disorders

The problem with curing anosmia is that there are so many possible causes. Try to work out which causes apply to you before embarking on using the remedies below.

Prevention / remedies / cures / treatment for loss of smell

If you use any remedies from Grow Youthful, please come back next week (or whenever you have an outcome) and let us know about your experience. Please leave a comment as many people are interested.

See details of remedies recommended by Grow Youthful visitors, and their experience with them.

References

1. Wikipedia, olfaction.