Rehabilitation of smell and diet in patients with olfactory loss

Our senses are pivotal to our perception of the world and our ability to navigate freely. If you lose one of your senses, it may have overwhelming consequences. This also applies if we lose our sense of smell which has considerable effect on our sense of taste. It will be difficult to distinguish raspberries from blackberries, and cinnamon will taste like nothing at all. For many it will affect the joy of eating and also the nutritional status and health.
A small group of patients will be able to train to regain their sense of smell, but it can be difficult to maintain the patients’ motivation for training. In this project the training will be combined with practical cooking with focus on consistency and other factors to heighten the eating experience, even if the sense of smell is gone. The purpose is to improve the nutritional status and the eating experience.
The project is divided into two parts. One takes place in collaboration with researchers from Copenhagen University. 80 patients with loss of smell will be included, along with 40 healthy persons. It will be examined whether strong tasting ingredients (like chili or horseradish) can be used to activate the memory of a full eating experience and thus increase the motivation to eat.
The other study takes place in collaboration with cooks and researchers from Aarhus University, and cooking school sessions will focus on the importance of the senses for the eating experience and the appetite. At the same time recipes will be developed in collaboration with the participants, and the results will be published to benefit other patients.
This grant is part of the VELUX FOUNDATIONs focus on rehabilitation research.