Simple test can reveal your true age – and it’s nothing to do with how old you are

AGING is a completely normal process and affects us all.

However we try to cover it up with various products or health programs, the number just keeps increasing.

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Now medical researchers have discovered that your sense of smell could give you away when it comes to determining your real age.

Loss of smell is a common symptom in neurodegenerative diseases.

These are debilitating conditions, with risk increasing with age.

These include Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Previous studies have shown that an impaired sense of smell is a sign of aging or illness.

A 2019 study of more than 2,000 people previously found that those with a poor sense of smell had a 46 percent greater risk of dying within ten years than those with a normal sense of smell.

In 2017, another study found that the loss of smell is also a sign of dementia, with the symptom appearing five years before the disease is diagnosed.

This is while paper found in 2004 that smell testing could help detect changes in bone health — a common factor in aging.

Other tests have been able to predict a person’s age based only on their sense of smell.

A 2019 study by experts in San Diego found that adults over the age of 80 were 62.5 percent more likely to have a poor sense of smell.

It was also found that 24.5 percent of those aged 53 to 97 have an impairment in their sense of smell.

Doctors in the US have also now developed a new test that could reveal your real age.

Johns Hopkins researchers said a smell test can help doctors screen older adults for signs of unhealthy aging and fragility.

This means medical professionals may be able to determine how well you are aging and how old you are overall, depending on how strong or weak your sense of smell is.

This could mean that people who don’t take care of themselves have a poorer sense of smell, which means they age faster.

In an article in the Journal of Gerontology, medical professionals examined olfactory sensitivity and olfactory identification.

These tests helped reveal a person’s ability to recognize an odor, name it, and distinguish it from other odors.

“We found that both impaired olfactory identification and sensory functioning are associated with frailty, which is interesting because it shows that it’s not just your aging brain at work here.

“But it can also be something peripheral, like something at the level of your nose, that can predict our impending frailty and death,” said corresponding author Nicholas Rowan, MD, associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at John Hopkins.

He added that our sense of smell is something that tends to weaken as we age.

To reach this conclusion, the experts looked at data from over 1,160 adults.

All participants were exposed to five odors to measure identification ability and six odors to measure sensitivity.

These results were then matched to how frail each person is.

The results showed that with each increase in odor sensitivity, fragility status also decreased.

This suggests that the ability to smell good is related to better overall health.

Prof Rowan added: “We already run tests to assess how well we can see or hear and it’s just as easy to do a simple smell test that only takes a few minutes and could potentially be a valuable risk assessment tool of infirmity or unhealthy aging.

“For example, if someone fails an olfactory test, that patient may need to improve their diet or undergo a more detailed neurological or medical evaluation.”