Not Hair Loss News – Early Alzheimer’s Disease Test By Sniffing Peanut Butter?

Snippet from the article:

In a small pilot study of patients displaying signs of cognitive decline, researchers at the McKnight Brain Institute Center for Smell and Taste and the University of Florida (UF) found that peanut butter can help identify those with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disorder often accompanied by a loss of smell.

Working with 18 patients with probable AD, 24 with mild cognitive impairment, 26 with other causes of dementia, and 26 matched controls, graduate student Jennifer Stamps and her UF advisor Kenneth Heilman measured the distance from the nose at which a patient (whose eyes were closed) could smell a tablespoon of peanut butter. They ran the test one nostril at a time and found that early-stage AD patients had dramatically different smell sensitivity between the right and left nostrils, with the left regularly being more severely impaired. The other patients tested displayed no such difference in smell sensitivity.

Read the rest — Sniffing out Alzheimer’s

What is believe by the researchers, is that areas of the brain responsible for smell may be the first areas impacted in dementia. Could this be a simple, mild cognitive impairment test for patients with early dementia or Alzheimer’s disease?

I want our readers to know that I have been sniffing peanut butter with each nostril and I am pleased to report that both nostrils work equally.