The power of smell

It has been known that dogs have an amazing sense of smell that they can sense potential danger or the onset of a seizure or blood sugar imbalance (healthypets.mercola.com). There has been a lot of studies regarding our ability to use our nose to detect certain odorants either from the food we are about to eat to gas leakage within the house. By studying how animals utilize their smell to search for food or sense danger, scientist were able to relate that to how our nose can tell us a lot about our health . Also, by adapting the concept of smell, researchers are starting to develop novel ways to use technology to detect and diagnose early onset of diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and Parkinson's disease.

Scientist like Julie Hagelin, and Jan Straley are studying humpback whales and how they utilize smell to locate their food and potential danger. Other researchers have also found that whale olfactory bulb takes up large portion of their brain and that they probably utilize this when they leap out of the water (Pippa Wysong, 2012). It found that detecting different smell activates different parts of the brain (K. Ramsayer., 2005). These study indicate how important the use of smell can help animals and so, with the right application, can potentially help humans as well. Another research involves the development of a "sniffer machine". Perena Gouma, an engineer from State University of New York, is developing a machine that can potentially detect early onset of type 1 diabetes. With the use of this machine, a person can detect whether or not their insulin level is low by breathing into the machine. The machine will then sense acetone build up in their breath and use it as an indication of low insulin. This can be an alternative test for diabetic patient without having to resort to blood draws (Pippa Wysong, 2012). Perena is also testing the machine's ability to detect early onset of asthma attacks, as the disease at times can have a slow build up. The machine would detect a gradual build up of nitric oxide gas that is found with asthmatic patient (Pippa Wysong, 2012). There is also a study involving the lost of smell with early onset of Parkinson disease. By giving patient a smell test, health care providers can potentially determine if the patient is developing Parkinsons. This new method can be a cheaper way to diagnosis certain brain diseases without having to resort to expensive and detrimental brain CT scans (Pippa Wysong, 2012).

The study that these researchers are conducting are very interesting and can be beneficial to health care. Patient would not have to go through the painful blood draw procedure to determine the condition of their diabetes. With the use of smell test, we can diagnosis a person of Parkinson without further increasing their risk of radiation exposure.


https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/09/18/pet-sixth-sense.aspx

Pippa Wysong. (2012). "Cool Jobs: Scents of science, Better understanding of the sense of smell inspires research into everything from whales to electronic ‘noses’". Science News for Students. Sep 12, 2012 . https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/cool-jobs-scents-science

K. Ramsayer. (2005) “Making sense of scents: Different smells light up different parts of the brain.” Science News for Kids. May 27, 2005.