Losing your sense of smell can be very distressing, but it is not necessarily something to worry about; it can just be a temporary reaction to a viral infection. However, it might be a cause for concern, particularly for older people…
A recent University of Chicago study found that there was a factor of four increase in mortality rate for those with the poorest sense of smell compared to those with the best. The study looked at men and women aged between 57 and 85, and the proportions that died in the following five years with good and bad senses of smell were 39% and 10% respectively. In fact, olfactory dysfunction was better at predicting mortality than a diagnosis of heart failure, cancer or lung disease. Only severe liver damage was a more powerful predictor of death.
Of course the researchers are not suggesting that a poor sense of smell actually causes death; it is a lot more likely that there are underlying causes responsible for the correlation. But there remains an intriguing possibility that improving your sense of smell, for example by repeated exposure to various aromas, might cause you to live longer. And what better way to do it than tasting wine. Sadly for some, you do actually have to be serious about this, especially the swirling and sniffing bit. Merely knocking wine back is not going to cut it!
Disclaimer: While there is certainly evidence that you can improve your sense of smell through practice, there is none whatsoever that it will lengthen your lifespan. Not that little details like that have stopped journalists in the past from proposing new routes to a long and healthy life. Heck, I might even be able to stretch the concept out into a wine tasting book with a new angle.
(With thanks to Nils Åre Økland, who introduced me to this idea in Vinforum 1.2015 – but he’s not getting a penny of my royalties)