Restoring your sense of smell after standard cancer treatment can seem like a complicated task. In this article I explain how your sense of smell is connected to your brain and what you can do to re-establish this connection.
Your sense of smell is directly connected to your brain through the olfactory region of the upper part of the nasal cavity. Inside your nose there is a region called the epithelial plate that contains olfactory receptors. Olfactory receptors are the nerves that tell the brain what something smells like. There are millions of receptors inside the nose that detect thousands of biochemicals which activate a multitude of scents.
These receptors detect the aromatic biochemicals that are contained in your food. The odors released during preparation of food and cooking are actually bio-chemicals that your nose receives on this minuscule plate just below the brain. When the nerve receptors receive the chemicals, they react by sending impulses that begin the process of digestion.
This means that food aromas actually stimulate appetite and digestion.
For example: when a lemon is sliced, it releases the oils in the peel that helps your brain determine that a lemon has just been cut. The same thing with garlic, onion, ginger, and other herbs. Actually, all foods elicit biochemical combinations which enhance the flavor through your ability to smell them. Taste and smell are intricately related. Try holding your nose when tasting something. Usually the flavor is dramatically reduced or non-existent. That is how powerfully connected the sense of smell is to taste.
What Happens When You Can’t Smell?
When pungent elements are added to your meals, the olfactory nerves are stimulated and you experience the sensation of smell while the food is in your mouth. This in turn triggers hormones to be released that tell the salivary glands to secrete saliva to begin the process of digestion.
Hydrochloric acid is also secreted into the stomach when certain odors are detected. These are part of the mechanisms that control digestion.
But what happens if you have a cold or your sinuses are blocked? If you can’t smell anything, generally it is difficult to taste the food, which in turn reduces the desire to eat. This is because the body is not receiving the hormonal stimuli to get the digestive processes going, and without that the body does not really “want” food. You get the idea that you are not really hungry. But when you say, “I’m not hungry” and then you smell the food cooking, all of a sudden you realize that you are hungry.
Why? Because the hormones have been released to tell the brain to activate the hunger center in the hypothalamus (one of the hormone centers in the brain for food related activities).
The Best Foods for Blocked Sinuses
In the instance of blocked sinuses, it is helpful to consume hot chili peppers, ginger, or other pungent foods and spices. The bio-chemicals intrinsic to these spices cause the mucous membranes to drain. Once the inflammation and mucus is removed, then the sense of smell is restored.
If the olfactory nerves have been damaged significantly you can lose your appetite and your sense of taste and smell. This can affect your digestion, and emotionally you do not enjoy your food so you don’t want to eat. For cancer patients this can be dangerous. Because even if you don’t want to eat, your body needs the nutrients to run all its bio-systems efficiently.
Lipoic acid is effective in restoring damaged nerve tissue, and its antioxidant components repair free radical damage.
Viral Infections Can Cause Loss of Smell
Viral infections can also cause problems with the ability to smell. Often times during cancer treatments the body suffers from viral infections because the immune system is weakened. This is partly why many patients, after undergoing standard cancer treatments, lose their sense of smell. Often this leads to loss of appetite as well.
Using Lipoic Acid to Reactivate the Sense of Smell
Lipoic acid is known for its stimulating effects on smell. Thus, one option is to consume certain spices and food combinations with sufficient lipoic acid in them. Some of these include: Brussels sprouts, broccoli, spinach, tomato, garlic, and cayenne pepper.
Omega-3 fatty acid foods such as cod, salmon, or mackerel are also effective. Plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids such as chia, walnuts, hemp seeds, flax seeds, and marine phytoplankton are also great options. These plant-based counterparts are more easily digestible and help reduce inflammation, thus draining mucus.
Zinc-rich foods such as pumpkin seeds and flax seeds are also high in lipoic acid. All these foods help to stimulate smell.
German researchers discovered that lipoic acid restored the sense of smell in most of their subjects. Some were anosmia which is a complete loss of smell. This demonstrates the powerful impact of this compound. Therefore, adding a lipoic acid supplement to your daily regimen could also be very effective. But consult your physician first before adding supplements to make sure they won’t interfere with your treatment protocol.
Recipe for Restoring Sense of Smell: Spinach Tomato Soup
Here is a recipe that can also help to restore your loss of smell (see further below for printable version)
Have you ever experienced a loss of smell due to cancer treatments or other conditions? What tips, foods, or recipes helped you? Please share in the Comments section below.
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Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2017. It has been updated and republished in January 2020.
Article Summary
Restoring your sense of smell after standard cancer treatment can seem like a complicated task.
There are millions of receptors inside the nose that detect thousands of biochemicals, which activate a multitude of scents.
When the nerve receptors receive the chemicals, they react by sending impulses that begin the process of digestion.
Food aromas actually stimulate appetite and digestion.
If you can’t smell anything, generally it is difficult to taste the food, which reduces the desire to eat.
Lipoic acid is known for its stimulating effects on smell.
Foods high in lipoic acid include:
- Brussels sprouts
- Broccoli
- Spinach
- Tomato
- Garlic
- Cayenne pepper
- Pumpkin & flax seeds
What about the other extreme? After Cipro poisoning I had hyperosmia, with all scents so grotesquely exaggerated, it would have been a deal-breaker had it continued. It is difficult to describe just how horrific this was. It was the equivalent of constantly being surrounded by open vats of bleach. I could smell a small votive candle a block away. Once beloved scents, like night blooming jasmine or orange blossom made me choke and cry. Even unscented products were a problem. I could not enter a restaurant of any kind. ecame a captive in my apartment and if someone picked me up for a doctors appointment, I couldnt’ bear if they had so much as hand lotion on. This was nightmarish. It is mostly gone, but there is still some residual effect. I can’t walk fast enough past a perfume counter, and it is difficult to be in stores like Bed Bath and Beyond, with their many scented items. I have to hope if I go somewhere like a theatre, that I don’t get seated next to someone with perfume. Any way to fix this? (I experience nerve damage head to toe.)
My friend detoxed her liver and got rid of chemical sensitivities to smell. She use baths of baking soda/Epsom salt/Master MIracles which is now called Nature’s Rich. Cipro has F which may affect the thyroid and other chemical reactions. Detoxing it may help. Iodine 12.5mg daily may help and Now brand- Detox Support or Now brand- LiverDetoxifier/Regenerator/Vit C/glutathione/organic oranges etc. I have a different friend who recently can’t handle smells and can’t take iodine due to maybe a surgery that used lots of iodine and now it bothers her.
Bentonite Clay is fantastic at absorbing chemicals and toxins internally. Used it to detox mercury and another time to detox psychotropic drugs and flouride(Cipro) antibiotic during adverse effects. They say Bentonite clay only absorbs that which is present in intestines, but I believe it draws it out from other parts as well due to how effective it is. Can use it in bathtub too to draw via pores – again the effectiveness is seen when children with neurological issues (autism spectrum etc) leave the tub a different child. I began to also use it when I started to get dizzy coloring my hair. I then would take a tablespoon before starting and one after rinsing and washing my hair – I stopped getting dizzy at the first dose almost immediately. Tested it coloring without taking clay and again dizzy – drank it and dizziness gone. (I know… I really should stop coloring hair, but vanity wins there – Im trying….) No harm whatsover to try!!
Bentonite Clay is used in construction to waterproof basement walls for the life of the building and if consumed, it essentially coats and seals your intestines, preventing absorption of all nutrients along with irritants and allergens. So there is a high price to pay for using it.
Activated charcoal is a less toxic solution.
Interesting. Do you have a source for this information? I think I read it in one other place. Thanks.
Bentonite Clay is used in construction to waterproof basement walls for the life of the building and if consumed, it essentially coats and seals your intestines, preventing absorption of all nutrients along with irritants and allergens. So there is a high price to pay for using it.
Activated charcoal is a less toxic solution.
Zn may help smell/taste. Chemo/radiation may hurt the gut lining which is fast growing cells so the don’t absorb nutrients like Zn etc. Cancer maybe due to Celiac in which gluten may hurt the intestines also. GMO/antibiotics/Lyme etc may hurt the gut lining. Fix the gut lining/intestines and then Zn may absorb again.
Thank you! I thought I was the only one! Any help for nueropothy of the toes, feet and fingers from cancer treatment?
5000mcg of biotin/ginkgo 120mg/Vit E 400IU/Vit C/Vit B12 methylcobalamin with intrinsic factor and folate/no gluten,dairy, soy, sugar which may cause inflammation/swelling/alpha lipoic acid 600mg and more may help circulation/neuropathy. Detoxing….FarInfrared Sauna…can buy on on Amazon/organic sulfur/Now brand- Detox Support or Now Liver Detox and Regenerator may help. Liposomal Vit C and liposomal glutathone/coenyzmated B vitamins/Vit B12 methylcobalamin shot/folate/Zn/Mg/fish oil 2000mg(thins blood and helps the immune system)/HCl and enzymes with meals/ strong probiotic before a meal/ coenyzme Q10/rhodiola/evening primrose oil 2000mg/Leicthin 2000mg and more may help. Nature’s plus- Source of Life multiple. LDN/drinking more good water/sunlight/exercise/rebounder/walking. I can’t have coconut oil or olive oil….saturated/monounsaturated fat which clogs my blood vessels..Raw walnuts…open shells to avoid hidden gluten and freeze them so fresh. Tea/organic food. Pesticides swells me. No food with a label. Hidden gluten may be in nuts not sold in the shell/meat basting/some spices/air/certified gluten free and more. Nightshade family may swell people. Low sugar/starch may help. Pure organic foods etc. may help.
To add to Shasha’s list, I would get the combo vitamin B12 by Life Extension. It contains the two bio-active forms: adenoslycobalamin and methylcobalamin It is called B12 Elite.
Whenever I have a bad cold like a congested nose and sore throat, I have difficulty smelling things especially food that is why I cannot taste the food very well.
I wonder if the reverse is true also….. that if having gastrointestinal problems can affect the ability to smell. Can the inability to produce digestive juices shut down the sense of smell – since they are connected. I have very low sense of smell in time with the development of gastrointestinal problems (food content related), so I wonder.
Celiac may lower Zinc needed for smell and hurt the gut lining/glands so that HCl and enyzmes are needed with meals. Gluten may hurt intestines so less nutrients like Zn absorb. GMO food may also hurt the gut lining. Tests may not work to diagnose Celiac.
Yes..I color my hair and it has wheat in it and unknown heavy metals maybe. i hate to see it go down the drain and down my body as it rinse it since it may poison me and the water people need to drink eventually. Epsom salt/baking soda/clay and more may help detox. People treat me different if I let my hair be gray. My hair is gray due to doing EDTA/DMPS IV chelations which remove hair color and I am sure low B vitamins etc may make some gray hair. Stress steals Zn/B vitamins and progesterone which may affect hair color. People need to detox…can’t go through life without detoxing. Eating green vegetables and broccoli/eggs that have sulfur etc may help detox also and sweating. Sunlight may help the immune system and help health. Celiac may lower nutrients absorbed in intestines like Zn which may affect smell/taste etc. Natural help only may help intestines heal and then more nutrients absorb.
I hear you on the hair coloring! I went to Tints of Nature that has NO chemicals but it was awful. Then I switched to the permanent one by the same company which has only a tiny bit and it works great. As for the bentonite—i have tried so many different detox things after cipro poisoning, and I am 90% better. This is obviously nerve damage, so I am not sure it would be helpful with that. (I don’t have a tub 🙁 ) I am however trying something called agmoset which is supposed to help with nerve damage. Most of my remaining side effects seem to be nerve related….
What is in agmoset? Alpha lipoic acid/coenyzmated B vitamins/fish oil/lecithin and more may help nerves.
OK, reading the label it says: agmatine sulfate (G-agmatine) G-agmatine is a trademark of Gilad and Gilad, so not really sure what it is! Apparently it is from L-arginine, but not sure how it is manipulated for this formula. I am trying it because my integrative MD said he has had a lot of success with patients who had nerve pain/damage. So am willing to give it a few months, since nothing else has helped.
Thanks for the information. Yes…trade marked means it has to change it in some way. Thanks for the information which may help many people! Happiness…
I went to a candida support group for awhile. The facilitator passed around a small bottle with some fluid in it and asked if we could smell it. If we couldn’t, she said we were zinc-deficient.
So I’m wondering whether there’s been a loss of zinc and whether taking some might make a difference.
Lipoic acid is effective in restoring damaged nerve tissue, and its antioxidant components repair free radical damage. Zinc-rich foods such as pumpkin seeds and flax seeds are also high in lipoic acid. All these foods help to stimulate smell. Thanks for these very valuable pieces of information!