KEY POINTS
- Researchers conducted a smell test on over 9,000 participants
- Some of them couldn’t detect the fish scent or had a less intense experience
- Researchers found for these people the fish’s off-putting odor might smell even like caramel
A new study has revealed a genetic mutation that makes people who carry it be less susceptible to the smell of fish. For some of these people, fish’s off-putting odor might even smell like caramel or roses.
Humans perceive smells using olfactory receptors, but of the 855 olfactory genes, about half are actually not functional. The reasons for this and why people have a “highly personalized” sense of smell remain a mystery.
To shed light on the matter, the researchers of a new study conducted a smell test wherein they presented 9,122 participants in Iceland with various smells including fish, cinnamon and liquorice, then asking them to name it and rate