A SNIFF TEST FOR ALZHEIMER'S?

Alzheimer’s disease is notoriously difficult to diagnose in its early stages, but a new test appears able to confirm the disorder with nothing more than a ruler and a spoonful of peanut butter. Researchers at the University of Florida tested 94 patients, 18 of whom had already been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s, by measuring how close a dollop of peanut butter had to be for them to smell it, one nostril at a time. (click below to read more)
They found that all of the known Alzheimer’s patients were far less able to smell the peanut butter with their left nostrils than with their right. “There was a big asymmetry there,” researcher Jennifer Stamps tells The Daily Mail (U.K.). A degraded sense of smell is known to be a symptom of Alzheimer’s, which generally affects the left side of the brain first. (In contrast to the processing of other senses, the left side of the brain interprets smells detected by the left nostril.) Stamps says that a broader study is needed to determine whether the sniff test can actually diagnose early Alzheimer’s and urges the public not to try it at home: Many people’s nostrils have varied sensitivity for a host of other reasons, and a self-administered test could raise baseless alarm.