Loss of sense of smell would be one of the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s diseaseaccording to results of a study published in the medical journal Neurology. This discovery could allow the disease to be detected more quickly, because by the time the memory disappears, it is often too late.
Researchers from McGill University in Canada conducted an experiment with nearly 300 people, with an average age of 63 and one parent of whom had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. They were subjected to tests for recognizing odors, such as smoke, lemon and gasoline. For the study, 100 volunteers underwent lumbar punctures to measure concentrations of Alzheimer’s-related proteins in cerebrospinal fluid.
The brain struggles to recognize simple smells
The results of this study showed that participants who had the most difficulty recognizing odors were those with the most abnormal biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease.
“Often, we noticed in the participants that their brain had difficulty associating the smell with the object it represented. For example, some smelt of lemon, but answered that it was another fruit”, explains Mr. Poirier, director of the research program on aging, cognition and Alzheimer’s disease of the Douglas Institute.
“This is the first time that we have succeeded in clearly demonstrating that there is a direct link between the loss of the ability to recognize odors and the biomarkers that show the progression of the disease”, underlines Marie-Elyse Lafaille. -Magnan, researcher at McGill University and lead author of the study.
Smell recognition tests could help scientists track disease progression in people at risk.
“This means that a simple smell test can potentially give us information about disease progression that is similar to the much more invasive and expensive cerebrospinal fluid tests currently in use,” said the research program director. on Aging, Cognition and Alzheimer’s Disease from the Douglas Institute and one of the authors of the study. “However, issues with odor identification may be indicative and should therefore not be substituted for current testing.”
New studies need to be put in place to understand how changes in a person’s ability to identify odors over time relate to the progression of the disease itself.
This study confirms the conclusions of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania (USA). They found increasingly strong evidence that the sense of smell diminishes sharply in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Read also:
Alzheimer’s disease: why people can die from it
Alzheimer’s: a quiz to test your knowledge of the disease
Alzheimer’s disease: symptoms loved ones should be aware of
