Peanut Butter Can Detect Alzheimer's

The key to detecting Alzheimer’s may be as simple as a scoop of peanut butter. Researchers at the University of Florida and the McNight Brain Institute Center for Smell and Taste have discovered that Alzheimer’s can be identified by a loss of smell and often a strong disparity in smell sensitivity between nostrils. The researchers measured the distance at which 18 patients with suspected Alzheimer’s disease, 24 with mild cognitive impairment, 26 with other types of dementia, and 26 control patients could smell a tablespoon of peanut butter with their eyes closed, one nostril at a time. They discovered that the ability of patients in early stages of Alzheimer’s to detect the peanut butter varied greatly between nostrils.