These are intriguing results that emerge from a study on autism, conducted in Israel. The children most affected would react differently to smells.
A breakthrough in the diagnosis of autism. According to Israeli researchers, it would be possible to determine if a child is likely to develop the syndrome, by observing how he sniffs smells.
The study, published in the scientific journal Current Biology, looked at the case of several autistic children, offering them to sniff two different scents: a sweet smell of flowers, and a bitter smell of rotten fruit. They found that the more advanced the child’s syndrome, the more he would sniff the second, more unpleasant scent.
Simple correlation? Difficult to say at the moment. But scientists believe the findings could pave the way for an effective new diagnostic tool, including spotting autism in young children who cannot yet speak. Normally diagnosed around the age of two, this olfactory test could make it possible to intervene quickly and even earlier with these children.
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However, the link between odor and autism is still difficult to explain. One of the hypotheses put forward is that smell is a very important element of social interactions, hence its link with autism.
But before establishing a diagnostic test based on these results, many avenues remain to be explored. “We need to determine at what age children really react to smells. It’s a start, but we do not yet fully understand the implications of our research, and how far it could be developed to provide better care, ”explains Liron Rozenkrantz, one of the doctoral students in charge of the study.
However, she believes that this constitutes a good basis which should lead to changes in diagnoses from an early age, in the years to come.
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