Have you ever wondered what causes something to smell the way it does? Simply put, your sense of smell is the way receptors in your nose detect certain compounds. For instance, apples smell the way they do because of a compound called beta-damascenone. When beta-damascenone is detected by olfactory receptors, this information is ultimately interpreted as 'smell'. However, some people can catch even the slightest presence of a smell-inducing compound, while others are much less sensitive.
You might be thinking: 'why should I care about my sense of smell?' But in fact, how well you can smell the world around you is surprisingly important: for example, part of how you taste food (like apples) is dictated by your sense of smell.
In a 2013 study, it was found that a gene locus in the same region as 98 olfactory receptor genes was associated with the extent to which an individual was sensitive to the smell of apples. This suggests that the clustered genes coding for olfactory receptors may be influencing how an individual may smell apples. The association was also seen in a completely different population, providing further evidence that the specific gene locus is meaningful. Get the full details of the study here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23910658
Check Genomelink now to find out your degree of sensitivity to the smell of apples!
