While mice with an intact sense of smell grow obese on a steady diet of high-fat chow, their littermates who have had their sense of smell expunged can eat the same food yet remain trim. In fact, the mice with an impaired sense of smell did not eat less of the high-fat chow than did their peers with normal olfaction. Mice stripped of their sense of smell burn fat differently — more intensively — than do mice whose olfaction is normal, the new study found. They typically have higher levels of adrenaline — the “go” signal in the body’s fight-or-flight system — than do mice with an intact sense of smell. But some chemical agents, including one currently used as a pesticide, are known to knock out humans’ sense of smell temporarily.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 05, 2017 22:52 UTC