Consuming A High Fat Diet May Lead To Loss Of Smell

People who consume a high-fat diet are at risk of losing their sense of smell, a new study finds.

The study was conducted by Florida State University neuroscientists. For the research, mice were given a high-fat daily diet while also being taught to associate between a particular odor and a reward (water) for six months.

The researchers found that mice that were fed the high-fat diets were slower to learn the association than the control population. When the researchers introduced a new odor to monitor their adjustment, the mice with the high-fat diets could not rapidly adapt, demonstrating reduced smell capabilities.

"Moreover, when high-fat-reared mice were placed on a diet of control chow during which they returned to normal body weight and blood chemistry, mice still had reduced olfactory capacities," Florida State University post-doctoral researcher Nicolas Thiebaud said in a press statement. "Mice exposed to high-fat diets only had 50 percent of the neurons that could operate to encode odor signals."

This is the first time researchers have been able to establish a solid link between a bad diet and a loss of smell. The study authors now plan on conducting more research on whether exercise could slow down a high-fat diet's impact on smell and if a high-sugar diet would also yield the same negative results on smell as a high-fat diet.

However, this is not the first time researchers have highlighted the effect of a high-fat diet on odor. Several research studies suggest that overactive sweat glands may be responsible for unwanted body odors in some individuals. Diet is definitely an additional factor that can contribute to body odors.

Hence, high-fat diets can be deemed unfit for both sensory organs as well as the physical body as it is a well-known fact that such diets contribute immensely to obesity.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Findings were published online in the Journal of Neuroscience