Bloody olfaction? Confounding associations of sex and age on the influence of blood parameters and body weight on odor identification performance in healthy adults

Schicker D, Karacan B, Brandl B, Skurk T, Volkert D, Hauner H, Freiherr J (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Physiology & behavior Elsevier

Book Volume: 254

Article Number: 113907

DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113907

Abstract

Olfactory function and nutrition are closely related and may influence each other via metabolic parameters. However, the relationship between nutritional blood parameters and olfactory performance is still unclear. Inconclusive findings exist for specific blood parameters. In this extensive analysis, we examined the relationship between olfactory performance, measured with MONEX-40, as well as intensity and pleasantness ratings with 38 metabolic blood parameters, age, sex, and the anthropometric measurements body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BFP). Therefore, we included data of 418 healthy, well-phenotyped Caucasians of the Enable cohort. We replicated age-dependent olfactory identification scores (p < 0.001) and found slight evidence for a body fat dependence measured with BFP (BF10 = 10.466). We further identified a sex difference only in middle-aged adults (p < 0.001) that could be explained by environmental factors. Several blood parameters correlated significantly with the MONEX-40 score (p < 0.05 – p < 0.001). However, these effects diminished after adjusting for sex and age (p > 0.9) that were identified as confounders. The same applies for BFP. In addition, no parameters were identified to correlate significantly with perceived olfactory intensity or pleasantness score if controlled for sex and age (p > 0.08). Our results suggest that metabolic blood parameters are not related to olfactory identification performance in a relevant manner and highlight the importance of controlling for sex and age in chemosensory research.

Authors with CRIS profile

Doris Schicker Professur für Neurowissenschaften der sensorischen Wahrnehmung (Stiftungsprofessur) Dorothee Volkert Professur für Klinische Ernährung im Alter Jessica Freiherr Professur für Neurowissenschaften der sensorischen Wahrnehmung (Stiftungsprofessur)

Involved external institutions

Technische Universität München (TUM) DE Germany (DE) Fraunhofer-Institut für Verfahrenstechnik und Verpackung (IVV) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Schicker, D., Karacan, B., Brandl, B., Skurk, T., Volkert, D., Hauner, H., & Freiherr, J. (2022). Bloody olfaction? Confounding associations of sex and age on the influence of blood parameters and body weight on odor identification performance in healthy adults. Physiology & behavior, 254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2022.113907

MLA:

Schicker, Doris, et al. "Bloody olfaction? Confounding associations of sex and age on the influence of blood parameters and body weight on odor identification performance in healthy adults." Physiology & behavior 254 (2022).

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