Peanut butter may help detect Alzheimer’s disease, researchers say

Jennifer Stamps, a graduate student in the University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute Center for Smell and Taste, realized while working with Dr. Kenneth Mailman, a professor of neurology and health psychology in the University of Florida College of Medicine’s department of neurology, that patients were not tested for their sense of smell.

The capacity to smell is linked with the first cranial nerve and is typically one of the first things to be impacted in cognitive decline.

“Dr. Heilman said, ‘If you can come up with something quick and inexpensive, we can do it,’” Stamps recalled.