Sense of Smell

Author: Silvia Bürkle ?- HQ Metabolic Balance? - Company ?

How the sense of smell affects our lives

Together with the sense of taste, the sense of smell is one of the oldest human senses controlled by the forebrain. Of our five senses, the sense of smell has the shortest path to being perceived by us.

How good you can smell depends on several factors. For example, genetic predisposition plays a role that causes some people to have a more pronounced sense of smell than others. But also the purity of the air and the learning ability of the brain influence the sense of smell.

Through the nose, humans inhale the air they need to breathe. In addition, however, they also inhale a myriad of fragrances. The nose can perceive around 10,000 different aromas – an experienced perfumer’s nose is even able to distinguish up to 30,000 scents.

By breathing, odors get into the nose and into the olfactory mucosa sitting on the left and right in the roof of the upper nasal cavity. This olfactory mucosa has around 10 million olfactory sensory cells as well as supporting and stem cells. If odor molecules meet these odor receptors when inhaling, an electrical signal is generated, which is immediately forwarded to the brain. There are around 350 scent receptors that react to only one scent molecule group at a time using the key-lock principle. According to the signals received, the brain triggers the release of hormones, the stimulation or throttling of glands and internal organs.

An example of how important our sense of smell is when we get sick! The food we eat no longer smells and thus no longer tastes, for example as a result of a Covid-19 infection. Scientists have discovered that special inflammatory cells (T cells) may be responsible for the loss of smell, which migrate into the olfactory epithelium and damage the olfactory nerve cells long after a Covid-19 infection. It was also shown that the number of olfactory nerve cells was significantly reduced by this infection.

In addition to special olfactory training, in which affected persons regularly “sniff” certain fragrances and aromas, it is also important that sufficient zinc and protein are absorbed with the diet in order to regain the sense of smell. The immune system consumes plenty of both nutrients during an infection and a deficiency can occur quickly. The good news: The olfactory cells renew themselves every 60 days! But this also means that you should provide the body with the necessary building blocks. This is easy to achieve with an LC nutrition plan, in which the nutrients are individually tailored to individual needs.

Do you have any other tips on how to reactivate the sense of smell?

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