How Does Zinc Help With Smell?
How the Olfactory Senses Work
The sense of smell is the way we notice and pick up different scents. This starts in the nose. When you breathe in, small smell particles from the air go into your nose. There is a special spot high up inside your nose. This spot has cells that can pick up different smells. When these smell particles touch the cells, the cells send electrical messages. These messages go to the top part of the nose and near the front of your brain. This is how your brain gets the signal about a smell.
The Brain’s Role in Processing Smell
The area in the brain called the olfactory bulb is the first to deal with smell. It takes in what you smell and sends this to other parts of the brain. After that, the brain sends the information to different places. One place helps you know what the smell is. Another part deals with how you feel about the smell. A third part helps store it in your memory. This is why some smells bring back strong memories or feelings, even more than what you see or hear. The way the body handles smells is fragile and has many parts. It helps us not just know about odors, but also to feel, have memories, and even notice taste and mood changes.
Causes of Smell Loss (Anosmia)
Loss of the ability to smell, called anosmia, can happen for many reasons that involve the nose, the nerves, or the brain. A common cause is viral infections like the cold or flu. These can make the inside of the nose swell or get hurt, and this can make it hard for you to smell, sometimes for a short period and sometimes it will last longer. A sinus infection can also block your nose, so smell can’t travel to the right spot inside. Other things that can block the inside of your nose—like polyps, a bent septum, or problems from allergies—can stop air from moving right, and this makes it hard to smell things.
Smell Loss from Aging and Neurological Conditions
Getting older is one reason why people start to lose their sense of smell. This happens as people age because the parts of the nose and brain involved in smell change over time. The body also does not make as many new smell cells as before. Brain problems like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis can also hurt the way people smell things. This is because these problems affect the parts of the brain that work with smell. Sometimes, if you notice someone has trouble smelling, it can be an early clue of a brain disease.
Other Causes of Olfactory Dysfunction
Head injuries can be one cause. This can hurt the part of the brain and nerves that help you smell, so the nose and brain cannot talk to each other well. Over a long time, coming into contact with things like solvents, pesticides, or heavy metals can also hurt the part of the body you use to smell. Some medicines, like certain antibiotics, allergy medicine, and drugs to treat cancer, can make you lose your sense of smell as a side effect. Using street drugs, especially those you breathe in through the nose, like cocaine, can hurt the inside of the nose and your ability to smell. Smoking makes the sense of smell less sharp as the small sensors in the nose get hurt over time.
How Zinc Supports the Olfactory System
Zinc is very important for the part of the body that helps you smell. This part is in charge of your sense of smell. You need zinc for the right working, growth, and fixing of the cells that help you smell things. Zinc helps these cells do their job the right way.
1. Supports Olfactory Receptor Function
Zinc is important to help keep the smell-receptor cells working well in the nose. These cells find smell molecules and pass the message to the brain. If there is not enough zinc, these cells may not work as well or may stop working. This can make the sense of smell weaker or even go away.
2. Aids in Cell Regeneration
The layer of tissue where the body senses smell, called the olfactory epithelium, replaces itself often. This means new cells grow in and old cells go out all the time. Zinc helps with this by helping the cells to grow and fix themselves. This is very important when there is damage from sickness, swelling, or things in the environment that can hurt it.
3. Helps Manage Inflammation
Zinc can help lower swelling and help the body fight off sickness. When you get sick with a cold or COVID-19, your nose and smell areas can get swollen. Zinc may help bring down this swelling. It can also help you get your sense of smell back faster.
4. Deficiency Linked to Smell Disorders
Not having enough zinc in the body can lead to a lower sense of smell or even losing it completely. In these cases, taking zinc supplements with a doctor's help has sometimes helped bring back the sense of smell, especially if not having enough zinc from food was the cause.
5. Used in Clinical Settings
Some studies and treatments use zinc supplements to help people with smell problems. This is done, especially when a virus causes the issue. But the results can be different. It often depends on what is causing the problem and how bad it is.
How to Test for Zinc Deficiency
So how do you know if you have low zinc? You can do a hair tissue mineral test (HTMA) with us. You can also try our Upgraded Zinc if you are having trouble with your sense of smell!
Conclusion
The sense of smell is an important and needed part of our lives. It connects with memory, mood, and how we feel overall. Many things can make it hard for people to smell. That may be aging, infections, injury, or problems with the brain. New research is showing that zinc is very important for keeping and bringing back the ability to smell. Zinc helps with the way sensors work, helps new cells grow, and helps keep swelling down. Zinc can be helpful for people who start to lose their sense of smell. If you have trouble with your sense of smell, checking your zinc levels could be a good first step to help get it back.