OUR SENSE OF SMELL:
IT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN WE THINK
Did You Know?...
The family of the olfactory genes is the largest in the mammalian genome – totaling more than 1,000. Majority of these genes are functional, but this number decreases in primates. Humans only have about 350 functional genes while dogs have about 850 functional genes (Shepherd, 2006).
Similar to have different fingerprints from everyone else, we also have a different body odor. Our personal body odor is affected by many factors such as diet, age, and hormonal status (Alho et al., 2015).
Since the taste of fat has been proposed as the sixth primary taste, Schebendach et al. (2014) tested to see if individuals with anorexia nervosa are able to taste fat in foods better than those without an eating disorder. They concluded that there was not a significant difference between the groups and fat avoidance of food is likely to be cognitively based.
According to Luers, et al. (2014), it is thought that if a person loses a sense organ, there may be an increase in the remaining sensory functions. They found that individuals who had lost vision gave accurate and detailed descriptions of smells compared to controls.
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) diverts ingested nutrients away from the upper gastrointestinal tract. With RYGB, individuals’ intake of sweetened foods decreases and it is believed to be affected by taste perception (Pepino, 2014).
Weight loss in cancer patients can be attributed to smell and taste changes due to many factors associated with diagnosis and treatment (McGreevy et al., 2013).
Odors that are stronger than the rate of detection, supraliminal odors, can regulate mood and cognition as well as possibly aid in mate selection (Li et al., 2007).