Business of LifeTen scents prove to be the best predictors for Alzheimer's Disease which affects 4.5 million Americans and worries many more. They are strawberry, smoke, soap, menthol, clove, pineapple, natural gas, lilac, lemon and leather. People with mild cognitive impairment who cannot identify these scents will develop Alzheimer's disease, according to research from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Based at Vanderbilt University, the 700-member research group released the findings yesterday during an annual meeting.
The "10-smell test," which takes only a few minutes, is as accurate a predictor for the disease as a more complex memory test or an expensive magnetic resonance imaging that measures brain volume, researchers say.
"Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is critical for patients and their families to receive the most beneficial treatment and medications," said study author Dr. D.P. Devanand, professor of psychology and neurology at Columbia University and director of the Memory Disorders Center at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.