Question

Why is smell important to our sense of flavour?

Answer 1

Smell is vital for survival of most humans and animals as it enables them to track food and water, find a mate and even communicate. Although our sense of smell is not as acute as other animals we know that humans are able to detect up to 10,000 different odor molecules.

Effects from loss of smell?

As smell is so closely connected to taste when smell is impaired it can cause people to actually change what they eat. Without smell food becomes tasteless and this results in people adding salt to improve the flavour. Adding salt can in itself be an issue for those with conditions such as blood pressure, kidney disease, diabetes or heart conditions.