title: Odor-Specific Loss of Smell Sensitivity with Age as Revealed by the Specific Sensitivity Test.
abstract: The perception of odor mixtures plays an important role in human food intake, behavior, and emotions. Decline of smell acuity with normal aging could impact food perception and preferences at various ages. However, since the landmark Smell Survey by National Geographic, little has been elucidated on differences in the onset and extent of loss in olfactory sensitivity toward single odorants. Here, using the Specific Sensitivity test, we show the onset and extent of loss in both identification and detection thresholds of odorants with age are odorant-specific. Subjects of Chinese descent in Singapore (186 women, 95 men), aged 21-80 years, were assessed for olfactory sensitivity of 10 odorants from various odor groups. Notably, subjects in their 70s required 179 times concentration of rose-like odorant (2-phenylethanol) than subjects in the 20s, while thresholds for onion-like 2-methyloxolane-3-thiol only differed by 3 times between the age groups. In addition, identification rate for 2-phenylethanol was negatively correlated with age throughout adult life whereas mushroom-like oct-1-en-3-ol was equally identified by subjects across all ages. Our results demonstrated the girth of differentiated olfactory loss due to normal ageing, which potentially affect overall perception and preferences of odor mixtures with age.
authors.affiliation: Food Science and Technology Programme, Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543, Singapore and.
authors.forename: Yi-Xin
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Seow
authors.affiliation: KH Roberts Pte Ltd, 19 Wan Lee Road, Singapore 627948, Singapore.
authors.forename: Peter K C
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.affiliation: Food Science and Technology Programme, Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543, Singapore and chmhdj@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Dejian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009812:Odorants; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology*; D012846:Singapore; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Aging; identification; odor threshold; olfaction; rose aroma