A new study being conducted by researchers at the University of Florida finds that peanut butter and a ruler may be used to confirm a diagnosis of an early stage of Alzheimer’s.  A graduate student at the McKnight Brain Institute Center for Smell and Taste noticed while shadowing doctors at a clinic that patients were not tested for their sense of smell. The ability to smell is associated with the first cranial nerve and is often one of the first things to be affected in cognitive decline.

The scientists found that patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease had a dramatic difference in detecting odor between the left and right nostril.  The left nostril was impaired and did not detect the smell until it was an average of 10 centimeters closer to the nose than the right nostril had made the detection.  This difference could be seen in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.  This was not the case in patients with other kinds of dementia.  Rather, these patients had either no differences in odor detection between nostrils or the right nostril was worse at detecting odor than the left one.

This low-cost method could be used by clinics that do not have access to the personnel or equipment to run other, more elaborate tests required for a specific diagnosis.  A specific diagnosis is a prerequisite for targeted treatment.  At the University of Florida, the peanut butter test will be one more tool to add to a full suite of clinical tests for neurological function in patients with memory disorders.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 5 million Americans are living with the disease and it is also the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S.  In fact, one in three seniors dies from Alzheimer’s or another dementia.  WebMD describes dementia as a loss of mental functions to the point where it interferes with daily functioning.  In a small number of cases, dementia can be treated because the source is treatable.  Examples of these include dementia caused by substance abuse, prescription medicine combinations, and hormone imbalances.  However, the vast majority of cases are untreatable.  Also, the the World Alzheimer’s Report 2013 points out that the current cost of dementia exceeds $600 billion.  The current and future costs of long-term care will be driven to a large extent by the course of the global dementia epidemic.