More Than Celebrity Ads and Gift Sets: Why SCENT Is Important to Your Health

“There are better ways to spend money.”
“It always smells better on my best friend.”
“I am tired of it after two weeks.”
“That one reminds me of a grandma.”
“I’m not sure I want to smell like a Kardashian.”

Even if you don’t think you care about scent, understanding how the sense of smell functions is about more than the fragrance counter at the mall.

Being able to smell not only helps make our food taste better, which to me, is an incredible pleasure and reason to care in its own right. For more practical reasons, smell helps protect each of us — it can warn us if food has gone bad or if there is smoke from fire.

When someone has a decreased sense of smell, it is called Hyposmia. Whereas, Anosmia is when someone is unable to smell anything at all. While typically uncommon, these conditions can impair people’s desire to eat, daily personal hygiene activities, or their overall happiness. Can you imagine not being able to take in a delectable aroma before taking a delicious bite of food? What about appreciating that hint of freshness during mundane moments of folding clean laundry?

Unfortunately due to COVID-19, one’s ability to smell has never been such a heightened topic of discussion. I don’t know about you, but I breathe a sigh of relief when my child tells me the kitchen smells gross after I’ve cooked broccoli. I even catch my husband (a non-scent-seeker) pop into my office to smell multiple fragrance samples on my desk. I often look at him confused, until I have to remind myself he is conducting his self-initiated daily check to ensure he can still smell something…anything. Thank goodness unscientific at-home scent evaluations aren’t our only source of hope. Global fragrance & flavor suppliers are working on ways to leverage their expertise by working with on impactful solutions like ‘smell test detection.’

While I cannot wait until we can get back to a world where fragrance associations ARE all about celebrity ads and Mother’s Day gift sets, I am reminded of the incredible power of our five senses and will not take any of them for granted!

See how Za Za uses her sense of smell to evaluate ‘all things lovely and not so lovely’!