ArticlePhysiology & behavior2020
Insights into smell and taste sensitivity in normal weight and overweight-obese adolescents.
Article in Physiology & behavior, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Obesity, Olfaction and Cognition: A Systematic Review.Current obesity reports · 2025Pooled it
- Changes in olfactory function in children and adolescents with obesity following an inpatient weight loss program: a longitudinal study.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- "I Can Taste It, But Sometimes It's Disgusting" Cross-sectional Study on the Influence of SARS-CoV-2 Infections, Both Acute and Postinfection, in Comparison to Other Respiratory Infections on Taste and Smell Perception.The Pediatric infectious disease journal · 2026Article
- Subjective and Objective Assessments of Olfactory Function in Patients Taking Anti-obesity Medications.Clinical and experimental otorhinolaryngology · 2026Article
- Evaluation of Taste Perception and Olfactory Function in Adolescents in Relation to the Duration of Type 1 Diabetes.Pediatric diabetes · 2025Article
- Olfactory function in diabetes mellitus.Journal of clinical & translational endocrinology · 2024Review
- Editorial for the Special Issue "Effects of COVID-19 on Lifestyle Behaviors in Children with Obesity".Nutrients · 2023Article
- Investigating the Relationships between Taste Preferences and Beverage Intake in Preadolescents.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Chemosensory Ability and Sensitivity in Health and Disease: Epigenetic Regulation and COVID-19.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- The development of sniffing.Chemical senses · 2023Article
- The Number of Fungiform Papillae, Taste Sensitivity and Smell Functions of Children Aged 11-15.Nutrients · 2022Article
- International consensus statement on allergy and rhinology: Olfaction.International forum of allergy & rhinology · 2022Review
- The Influence of Common Noncommunicable Diseases on Chemosensory Perception and Clinical Implications in Children and Adolescents.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Review
- Odor-Taste-Texture Interactions as a Promising Strategy to Tackle Adolescent Overweight.Nutrients · 2021Article
- Taste Dysfunction in Children-A Clinical Perspective and Review of Assessment Methods.Chemical senses · 2021Review
- Association of pediatric idiopathic intracranial hypertension with olfactory performance.European journal of paediatric neurology : EJPN : official journal of the European Paediatric Neurology Society · 2021Article
- Anxiety-related shifts in smell function in children and adolescents.Chemical senses · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Research examining connections between BMI and smell and taste sensitivity in adolescents has been minimal, methodologically inconsistent, and inconclusive. We sought to address this issue with an exploratory study of smell and taste sensitivity in overweight-obese (high BMI) and normal BMI male and female adolescents (ages 12-16 years), using previously validated chemosensory testing measures (Sniffin' Sticks, Taste Strips, 6-n-propylthiouracil: PROP), and taking pubertal stage into account. Puberty was evaluated with the validated Pubertal Development Scale and participants were then classified as either "early" or "late" pubertal stage. We used the phenylethyl alcohol (PEA) version of the Sniffin' Sticks olfactory threshold test and found that high BMI adolescents had significantly greater olfactory sensitivity than normal BMI adolescents. This observation contradicts previous results in overweight adults tested with the n-butanol version of Sniffin' Sticks. We also found that participants in early puberty had significantly higher olfactory sensitivity than participants in late puberty. No significant findings for taste sensitivity were obtained, though there is a suggestion that puberty may affect salty taste thresholds. Our results illuminate a potentially important difference in sensitivity to pure olfactory versus olfactory-trigeminal stimuli as a function of BMI, which the PEA and n-butanol versions of the Sniffin' Sticks respectively assess; and for the first time demonstrate variation in chemosensory acuity in relation to pubertal stage. These findings have implications for eating behavior during adolescence.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.