IT turns out that having a terrible sense of smell is not just an inconvenience - it might actually be your body trying to tell you something.
A team of experts from the UK, the US and Germany have called for a poor sense of smell to be considered as a screening factor for a range of diseases.
In a review published in the journal Clinical Otolaryngology, the team said that olfactory disorders have not received enough attention in the medical community, despite growing evidence linking it to over 130 neurological, physical and genetic disorders.
Loss of smell can be an early warning sign of several illnesses, the researchers pointed out, including dementia, Parkinson's and heart disease.
Other risks pointed out in the review include reduced ability to detect gas, fire and smoke, or to notice when food is spoiled, while a weak sense of smell has also been linked to higher rates of eating disorders and even poorer mental health.
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