Your sense of smell may give doctors early clues as to whether you鈥檒l deal with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Since there鈥檚 no cure for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, researchers are focused on ways to identify early signs and create treatments before dementia sets in.
is one of those researchers. She鈥檚 at Radiology and Imaging Science Department, where she led a focused on how people鈥檚 sense of smell could be connected to Alzheimer's disease.
Risacher and a team of researchers gave a 鈥渟cratch and sniff鈥� test of 40 different smells to a group of 34 people.
鈥淲hat we wanted to do, was look at whether or not the performance on this test was linked to certain proteins known to be involved in the Alzheimer鈥檚 disease in the brain,鈥� said Risacher.
The findings suggest there鈥檚 an association between a low score on the 鈥渟cratch and sniff鈥� test and the protein that accumulates in regions of the brain where Alzheimer鈥檚 tends to show up.
The study also found that the sense of smell can be associated with atrophy in certain areas of the brain.
Dr. works in the the Imaging of Dementia and Aging lab, or IDeA Lab, as a project scientist with the Department of Neurology at the University of California Davis School of Medicine. He says the study鈥檚 findings are exciting.
鈥淭he study is showing that you could have an early test that might alert somebody to further investigate it.鈥� Fletcher said. 鈥淏ut right now it鈥檚 (the study鈥檚 findings) too early to say that anything is definitive.鈥�
Risacher said doctors are particularly interested in this study because a smell test can become an early screening tool for Alzheimer鈥檚. It鈥檚 also easier to administer compared to how screenings are done now.
鈥淐urrently the way we visualize the amyloid and tau (two proteins in the brain connected with Alzheimer鈥檚) is through PET scans and they鈥檙e (the scans) perfectly safe but they are expensive and relatively invasive,鈥� said Risacher.
Risacher is looking to get more funding to support a larger study with more participants. She also hopes to advance the study by incorporating a memory test.
鈥淚 think the smell test can be used on its own or maybe in collection with other types of tests as a screening tool that people can get every year.鈥� Risacher said. This would be on par with an annual physical.
The study was published late last year in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring.
This story was produced by , a news collaborative covering public health.
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