A new study has linked loss of smell to inflammation in nearly 140 medical conditions and these include those related to ageing and menopause, and therefore, could be an early sign of neurological and bodily diseases. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience.

Inflammation is a natural response of the immune system to injury, infection, or harmful response. It acts as a protective mechanism which aims to remove harmful agents and help in tissue repair. When you have an inflammation, your body releases immune cells and blood flow increases to the affected area.

Researchers of the study say that the results highlight the role that our sense of smell plays in maintaining physical and mental health. Michael Leon, a professor emeritus at the University of California-Irvine, US and lead author of the study, said, “The data are particularly interesting because we had previously found that olfactory (smell-related) enrichment can improve the memory of older adults by 226 per cent.”

Leon added, “We now know that pleasant scents can decrease inflammation, potentially pointing to the mechanism by which such scents can improve brain health.”

The researchers say that the findings could have implications for addressing symptoms and possibly reducing the onset of certain diseases by treating one’s sense of smell, which can often precede ageing-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

For the study, the researchers tracked 139 medical conditions related to both a loss of smell and heightened inflammation, thereby uncovering insights into a route shared between the two symptoms. Leon said, given that linking a loss of smell with a wide range of disorders is complex, tracking down studies for several medical conditions was difficult.

The majority of the studies the team looked at (9,000) pertained to long COVID’s loss of smell, while close to 2,000 looked at olfactory loss due to ageing-related memory loss. About 3,900 studies explored loss of smell in menopause and 3,500 pertained to loss of smell in depression.

The authors of the study wrote, “Olfactory loss accompanies at least 139 neurological, somatic, and congenital/hereditary conditions.

“Mechanisms that may underlie the connections between medical conditions and olfactory loss include inflammation as well as neuroanatomical and environmental factors, and all 139 of the medical conditions listed here are also associated with inflammation.”

The findings about how rehabilitating one’s sense of smell can potentially address inflammation have laid the groundwork for future studies aiming to explore the use of scent in treating a range of medical conditions, the researchers said.

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