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Smell is the Cinderella of senses, but could you imagine losing it?
This blog, [Olfactics and Olfactory Diagnostics] is about the sense of smell, olfactory properties of chemicals, and uses of volatile emissions for medical diagnostics

Although the study has only just begun, the preliminary results already look very interesting. One example is fatty odor.

- Could Vitamin K1 really contribute to "fatty" odor? Could 6 observations derived from different users' Auras be just a coincidence? Vitamin K is proposed to increase production of alkaline phosphatase in intestines. This enzyme produces a number of different substances, some of which have a peculiar sweetish smell. Chlorophyll, usually recommended to combat body odor and supposedly makes odor "sweeter," is an excellent source of vitamin K1. And so is Asparagus that gives urine a disagreeable odor.
- Octadecanoic (Stearic) acid was also linked to fatty odor in 6 observations. This saturated fatty acid is most abundant in animal fats and cocoa butter, and also in nuts and seeds (peanuts, flax), cheese, cookies and candies. Its smell is fairly mild, yet can be detected by the human nose (Bolton and Halpern, 2010). Besides, it slowly converts in the liver to heart-healthy oleic acid which has a faintly fatty odor with a hint of dead insects. It could also metabolize into other compounds and incorporate into liver lipids or follow alternative routes.
- FODMAPs, highly fermentable but poorly absorbed short-chain carbohydrates and polyols, were found to be an important dietary factor contributing to gastrointestinal symptoms. Perhaps FODMAPs, carbohydrates and monosacharides in particular could also contribute to odor in the absence of GI discomfort?
- Beta-carotene is another heart-healthy chemical with anticancerous properties important in human nutrition as a source of Vitamin A. Tobacco, tea, many spices and flowers owe their flavors to chemicals metabolized from beta-carotene. One of such chemicals is warm and woody beta-Ionone that smells of blackberry at lower concentrations and fatty-cheesy at higher concentrations.
References
Bolton B, & Halpern BP (2010). Orthonasal and retronasal but not oral-cavity-only discrimination of vapor-phase fatty acids. Chemical senses, 35 (3), 229-38 PMID: 20100787
Dunkel M, Schmidt U, Struck S, Berger L, Gruening B, Hossbach J, Jaeger IS, Effmert U, Piechulla B, Eriksson R, Knudsen J, & Preissner R (2009). SuperScent--a database of flavors and scents. Nucleic acids research, 37 (Database issue) PMID: 18931377

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1 comments:
Maybe sufferers would benefit from grief counseling? It could fall into the new category of Complicated Grief which goes beyond bereavement into dealing with other life events that produce grief. If the odor condition developed later in the life i.e. teenage years or older, grief counseling might help with the loss of wellness, the loss of being part of the world, loss of dreams; grieving for a life they could have had - or once had. Also the person's loved ones who grieve for them might benefit. Counseling for a condition that people cannot get over but have to learn to live with. There's a term called the 'grief of missing-ness' and it's no secret that grief and depression can lead to a mental illness. Of course it would be helpful if the counselor was aware of this daunting condition - because as we know not all professionals are professional.