Did you ever wonder if certain foods have a direct effect on your health?

Well, I'm here to solve that mystery since you are the foods you eat.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast. I'm your host Dr Michael Greger.

Backed by popular demand, it's our nutrition facts grab bag where we look at the science

on a whole variety of topics,

starting with a story about how to preserve your sense of smell.

Based on a study of nearly 2,000 people,

our sense of smell declines as we age, similar to our loss of vision and hearing,

but a quarter of Americans over the age of 50 suffer from all factory dysfunction

a difficulty identifying odors which climbs to more than half of individuals between the ages of 65 and 80, and about 80 percent in those over the age of 80.

And that was before COVID-19, which affected the smell of nearly 50% of sufferers.

Typically it was temporary, but as many as 15% of non-hospitalized COVID survivors were still experiencing problems with the ability to smell three or more months later,

and there are cases of it lasting for years.

As anyone with even a simple head cold can tell you,

when you lose your sense of smell, you lose much of your sense of taste as well.

Between 75 to 90 percent of what we think of as taste may actually be smell.

This was all too vividly illustrated by the case of Algerian war soldiers whose tongues were cut out remarkably reporting little loss of food and drink flavor sensation.

But hey, if loss of smell leads to loss of taste,

think of all the weight loss. And that was apparently the thought behind the development

of a novel nasal device, gang-inducing silicone

tubes you stick into your nostrils to calm them off your smell receptors.

Researchers recorded a drop in preference for sugary foods and beverages,

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