FOOD ODOR THRESHOLDS IN RELATION TO AGE, NUTRITIONAL, AND HEALTH-STATUS

Odor perception plays an important role in nutrition. In the present s tudy, the effect of aging and health status on detection of food odors is shown and interrelations with nutritional status are explored. We have tested 26 healthy young (20-25 yrs) and 23 elderly (61-74 yrs) su bjects who were screened according to the SENIEUR protocol. Anthropame tric measures and blood samples provided 20 parameters of nutritional status. A validated measurement procedure under forced choice conditio ns was used to quantify the detection thresholds of two food odors of which one had a trigeminal effect and the other mainly had an olfactor y effect. There is a significant declining sensitivity for both odors. Our observations indicate that a relation between nutrition and odor perception in the elderly population exists. Whether olfactory deficit s cause or are caused by increased nutritional risk deserves further s tudy.