Amber James’s article on “She Uses Peanut Butter To Detect Alzheimer’s. Everyone Should See This.”, suggests this common cause of dementia can possibly be detected by a simple test. James used a pilot study to test 18 early-stage Alzheimer’s patients.
When given a smelling agent, the patients were tested on whether they could determine what it was. Once determined, the distance from the nose to the smelling agent was measured. The smelling agent was peanut butter.
In conclusion of the study, it was determined that early-stage Alzheimer’s patients had more difficulty identifying what the peanut butter was at a closer distance to the face than non-Alzheimer’s patients. Although the article does not indicate how close the right nostril tested correctly that peanut butter was the smelling agent, it was determined the left nostril could not detect the peanut butter until it was closer to the nose.
Specifically, the right nostril detected peanut butter correctly on average 10 centimeters farther from the nose than what the left nostril could. Alzheimer’s Disease attacks cells of the brain and affects memory and thinking and behavior. Because it worsens over time, early detection is certainly a benefit when trying to deal with this disease.
The peanut butter test, if determined viable, would be a valuable tool in detecting candidates of Alzheimer’s Disease. As James indicates, there is much more to be learned in determining whether or not the peanut butter sniffing test can be an accurate one.