At one of our recent happy hours some of the fighters and I were discussing the benefits of nutritional aromatics (spices) and Parkinson’s disease. For example, there is scientific data to suggest that cinnamon seems to stop the progression of PD in mice. Unfortunately, the research showed no evidence that it slowed down PD in humans, but cinnamon is still a great antioxidant to add to food. For now, just keep the cinnamon on your spice rack instead of in your medicine cabinet.
Toward the end of our happy hour discussion we were commenting on how good cinnamon rolls smell. It wasn’t long before we were talking about the Scottish woman who can smell Parkinson’s disease. This retired nurse, Joy Milne from Scotland, smelled a strong musky smell on her husband 10 years before his Parkinson’s diagnosis.
Don’t worry folks, this smell could not be detected by other people. It turned out that Joy had synaesthesia. Synaesthesia is a neurological condition in which one sense (for example, smell) is simultaneously perceived by one or more additional senses, such as sight or taste, making it heightened exponentially.
Joy worked with researchers at the University of Manchester and they were able to identify the molecules on the skin linked to the smell. This research revealed that several compounds (particularly hippuric acid, eicosane, and octadecanal) were found in higher concentrations on people with Parkinson’s sebum (the oily secretion that coats everybody’s skin). This oil is often over-produced in greater quantity by people with Parkinson’s.
The hope is that if they can detect and diagnose people earlier (before the motor symptoms appear) there will be treatments that can prevent the disease from progressing.
Joy only linked the odor to the disease after meeting people with the same distinctive smell at a Parkinson’s support group. She said that if she would have known earlier that it was PD she was smelling, then when her husband became withdrawn, depressed and had mood swings, it would have made more sense and they could have tried different treatments more appropriate for Parkinson’s.
Ironically, one of the first symptoms people report when they start noticing PD symptoms is loss of smell. Let us know if you have lost your smell. I would also be really interested in learning about how you spice food to make it taste better (since smell is part of tasting).
References:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-47627179