Doctor Holds Peanut Butter Under His Patient's Nose To Predict Alzheimer's - Here's How It Works

Oct 09, 2018

The Alzheimer’s Association says over 5 million people have Alzheimer’s, and two-thirds of them are women. That number will rise to over 7 million by 2025.

There is nothing more heart-wrenching than to see a loved slowly slip away from you because Alzheimer’s is slowly destroying their mind, but a discovery by a university student has changed the playing field. 

With the onset of Alzheimer’s the first cranial nerve is one of the first parts of the body affected. This nerve controls the ability of the patient to smell, and a patient in the early stages of Alzheimer’s loses the ability to smell out of the left nostril.

Jennifer Stamps, a graduate student at the University of Florida, found that Alzheimer’s patients could smell peanut butter with their right nostril at 20 centimeters away, which is about 7.84 inches. However, they could not smell the peanut butter with their left nostril even at 10 centimeters away, or about 3.94 inches.

This discovery is exciting! This means that Alzheimer’s patients can get an earlier diagnosis, resulting in an earlier intervention and delaying its progression. Alzheimer’s is a life-altering disease for patients and family alike. With early diagnoses, patients and families can better prepare for the life-altering effect of Alzheimer’s.

However, while this sounds promising, some additional studies could not replicate these results so far.

What do you think about this discovery? Let us know in the comments below! 

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