WASHINGTON, D.C.: Scientists have flagged a smell test for Alzheimer’s disease, raising hopes that the condition can be diagnosed long before it starts to affect behaviour.
A study by researchers from the US Department of Agriculture suggests a distinctive smell in urine, triggered by the disease, could be detected with a simple odour test.
Co-author Bruce Kimball said the work had sprung from research into body odour changes caused by external influences such as viruses and vaccines. “Now we have evidence that urinary odour signatures can be altered by changes in the brain (which are) characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr Kimball said.
The Philadelphia-based Monell Chemical Senses Centre, which was also involved in the new study, said the disease’s progression could not currently be reversed or even halted. “(But) an accurate diagnosis can give patients and families time to plan for the future and seek treatments for symptom relief,” it said.
The study was held on mice specially engineered for Alzheimer’s research. Co-author Daniel Wesson, of Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, said the research was still at proof-of-concept stage, but it could point the way to human tests.