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Dysosmia-Associated Changes in Eating Behavior

  • Published:
Chemosensory Perception

Abstract

Introduction

Olfaction is a highly emotionally charged sense and contributes to our quality of life, which olfactory impairment or dysosmia thus strongly impacts. The aim of the present study was to examine how olfactory deficits alter eating behavior, which is a pillar of health and well-being.

Methods

Patients with quantitative smell impairment and control participants were asked to perform a series of chemosensory tasks: odor identification and ratings of odor intensity, pleasantness, familiarity, irritation, and edibility. They also filled out a detailed food questionnaire.

Results

Results showed significant decrease in olfactory function in smell-impaired patients. Although no significant consequences of dysosmia were found for most aspects of food preferences and culinary habits, the patients were less attracted than controls by novel foods and tended to experience less pleasure when eating. They also used significantly more condiments such as sugar, mayonnaise, or sour cream to make their dishes tasty.

Conclusions

Olfactory impairment has a clear effect on certain aspects of eating behavior.

Implications

These findings highlight the compensatory mechanisms that go along with dysosmia. This also reflects the patients’ attempts to restore part of the lost flavor and its hedonic component through non-olfactory cues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM U1028, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 50 avenue Tony Garnier, 69366, Lyon Cedex 07, France

    C. Manesse, C. Ferdenzi, M. Bessy, C. Rouby & M. Bensafi

  2. Département Informatique, Université des Sciences, USTO, Oran, Algeria

    M. Sabri

  3. Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France

    F. Faure

  4. Hôpital Nord-Ouest, Villefranche, France

    D. Bellil & S. Jomain

  5. Unité de Rhinologie-Olfactologie, Service d’ORL, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland

    B. N. Landis & M. Hugentobler

  6. ENT Department, University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    M. Cuevas & T. Hummel

Authors
  1. C. Manesse
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  2. C. Ferdenzi
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  3. M. Sabri
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  4. M. Bessy
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  5. C. Rouby
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  6. F. Faure
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  7. D. Bellil
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  8. S. Jomain
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  9. B. N. Landis
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  10. M. Hugentobler
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  11. M. Cuevas
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  12. T. Hummel
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  13. M. Bensafi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Bensafi.

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Funding

This study was funded by a grant from the Interdisciplinary Mission of the CNRS (DEFISENS call, PREVALOF and O2C2 projects; DEGIGENRE call, Sensotogenre project) to MB and a grant from Region Rhone-Alpes ARC2 Qualité de vie et Vieillissement ADR to CM. The study was also supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft to TH (DFG HU411/18-1).

Conflict of Interest

The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Manesse, C., Ferdenzi, C., Sabri, M. et al. Dysosmia-Associated Changes in Eating Behavior. Chem. Percept. 10, 104–113 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-017-9237-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-017-9237-3

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