Scientists have highlighted a little known symptom of Alzheimer's disease that could help provide an earlier diagnosis in patients: it is the loss of smell.Find out the details of this research.
Scientists claim that a particular symptom could be an indication of Alzheimer's
Although it is thought that the initial damage to the brain of dementia occurs until 20 years before that symptoms appear , there is currently no evidence to confirm whether this is true or not.
However, now, scientists at McGill University (Quebec) believe they have found a possible link between loss of smell with early indication of the disease.
To test the theory in 300 participants who were at high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease because they had a father who suffered from her, each of these people was pi He gave me a multiple choice test that consisted of the classic scratch and smell games.
While everyone was asked to identify strong perfumes such as chewing gum, gasoline and lemon, 100 of them were also offered to have regular lumbar punctures to measure the disease-related proteins in their spinal fluid.
The researchers found that those who had the most difficulty identifying odors were also the ones who had more biological indications of Alzheimer's disease.
Loss of smell could be an unexpected sign of Alzheimer'sMarie-Elyse Lafaille-Magnan, author of the study, explained that this is the first time someone has been able to clearly show that the loss of the ability to identify odors correlates with biological markers that indicate the progression of the disease.
Also, it is necessary that for more than 30 years , scientists have been exploring the connection between loss of memory and the difficulty that patients may experience in the identification of different odors.
In her opinion as an expert, this makes sense because it is known that the olfactory bulb (involved with the sense of smell) and the cortex Entorhinal (involved with memory and the name of odors) are among the first brain structures that are first affected by the disease.
Although there is currently no treatment for Alzheimer's disease, experts say this odor test could be used to follow the disease before other symptoms appear and even to reduce the symptoms once they begin.
Dr.John Breitner, director of the Center for Studies on Alzheimer's Disease Prevention at the University of McGill said that if you can delay the onset of symptoms for at least five years, it is possible to reduce the prevalence and severity of these symptoms by more than 50 percent.
Although researchers are hopeful, they recognize that it is still necessary to perform many more tests in this direction and that, for now, smell alone should not be used to diagnose the disease.
What do you think of this discovery about this indication of Alzheimer's? Do you think it will help improve conditions and the future of those who suffer?
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