Flavor by Bob Holmes

Author:Bob Holmes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

When Yager returns to Doty’s office that afternoon, he gives her the results of the tests: no problems at all in her sense of taste, but on her smell tests she scored no better than if she’d been guessing randomly. Clearly, what little smell she has left is so badly degraded that she can’t tell the difference between familiar odors like grape and peanut butter.

And unfortunately, says Doty, medical science can’t do much to fix the problem. About half of the people who suffer smell impairment get some function back within a few years, but less than a quarter recover fully. Among people with complete loss of smell, like Yager, the odds of full recovery drop to just 8 percent.

There might be ways to improve that discouraging prognosis, he notes. There are a few reports that a supplement, alpha-lipoic acid, might help. And some studies suggest that even a failing sense of smell might improve with practice, because nerve cells are more likely to be replaced or regrow if they’re being used. Grab bottles of spices—“Anything that says McCormick”—and keep them beside your bed, he tells Yager. Sniff through them three or four times first thing in the morning and before you go to bed for the next three or four months, and see if it helps. She brightens at the thought that she might be able to do something about the problem.

A year later, I checked in with Yager to see whether the exercises helped. No luck, she reported—she still can’t smell anything. “I’ve grown accustomed to it, I suppose,” she says. She’s learning to cope by making sure her food is well seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon, which don’t depend on smell for their flavor impact, and admits that “Sriracha has become a close friend.” (The chili burn uses a different nerve to reach the brain, so she still gets full value for that flavor component.) She rarely drinks wine any more, except to be sociable, since it doesn’t offer much to interest her. These days, her preferred tipple is gin and tonic, which is still exciting in her mouth, thanks to its pronounced hit of bitterness.

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