As recently as 1987, British coal mines used caged canaries to act as sentinels, warning miners of toxic gases. Birds are more sensitive to them than we are, so they can suffer before the gas reaches levels dangerous to humans, allowing miners to avoid evacuation and suffocation.
The sense of smell is the canary in the coal mine of human health, according to new research. A study published today in the journal PLOS ONE shows that losing your sense of smell is a good predictor of death within five years, suggesting that the nose knows when it’s dying, and that smell is a bellwether for a person’s overall state. as a marker of exposure to toxic substances in the body or environment.
The study included more than 3,000 participants aged 57 to 85 from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a longitudinal study of factors affecting well-being among older Americans.
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