Medical Questions » Smell and Taste Questions » Question No. 931
| Question: | I am 68, and over the past 3 years have gradually lost my sense of smell, but can still taste sweet and sour. A specialist has told me that nothing can be done. Is that true? |
| Answer: | The senses of smell and taste are totally independent of each other, and so it is certainly possible to lose one sense and not the other.
The sense of smell comes from tiny nerve endings that project through the thin bone at the top of the nose. These nerve endings respond to different aromas in different ways, the subtlety of which is poorly understood by physiologists. The appropriate nerve impulses are then carried to a part of the brain that interprets these as the smells we know.
Man has a relatively small parr of the brain devoted to smell (it is much larger in dogs), and if the blood supply to this part of the brain, or the olfactory (smell) nerve is reduced, the sense of smell may be lost. This can occur in old age from a mild stroke or hardening of the arteries, and is relatively common in smokers. There is no treatment available.
Taste results from four different types of receptors on the tongue, which can detect sweet, salty, bitter and sour (and combinations of these). Taste is a far coarser sensation, and it is only the combination of smell and taste that makes us appreciate different foods.
I regret, that with taste alone, your garlic prawns and fresh strawberries are not going to be the pleasure of years past.
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