Lost sense of smell could be sign of dealth within 5 years

New study has suggested that, for older adults, being unable to identify smells could indicate mortality within 5 years.
"Olfaction is a critical, if underappreciated, component of human physiology," write the authors, led by Dr. Jayant Pinto and based out of the University of Chicago, IL. "Although potentially less dependent on olfaction than many other mammals, humans still rely on this ancestral system which plays an essential role in health and behavior."

They point out that our ability to distinguish scents performs a wide variety of tasks. It influences nutrition through appetite and food preferences, enables us to identify environmental hazards and is inextricably linked with memory and social relationships.
Indeed, a failing olfactory system has already been observed to signal major degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Due to its links to diverse physiological processes, the authors hypothesized that it could also potentially be an indicator of mortality.
The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, was part of the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP). This project is the first in-home study of social relationships and health within a nationally representative sample of participants aged between 57-85.
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