Peanut Butter Smell Test May Help Diagnose Alzheimer's Disease
Published October 8th, 2013
GAINESVILLE- Researchers at the University of Florida are measuring the ability to smell peanut butter from certain distances, it's being used to help diagnose Alzheimer's disease.
The test is asymmetrical which means that the left nostril has to test negative and the right nostril to be positive for the test to be accurate.
Stamps measured in centimeters to determine how far away a person could detect the peanut butter.
An average person should be able to detect the peanut butter from 18 centimeters away out of both nostrils.
In her study Alzheimer's patients were able to detect the peanut butter an average of 5 centimeters away from their left nostrils
UF Neurology Grad Student, Jennifer Stamps says, "In Alzheimer's disease the pathology starts in the olfactory cortex and also the left hemisphere has been found to be affected first. So it made sense looking back on it that they would have a left nostril impairment."
24 patients with mild cognitive impairments were tested-- 10 showed a left nostril impairment.
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