A citizen receives a COVID-19 test at a makeshift clinic in central Seoul on May 15, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, July 6 (Korea Bizwire) — A new study claims that the loss of one’s sense of smell caused by COVID-19 can be treated with special training using lemon and cinnamon.
A research team from the Korea University Ansan Hospital conducted a two-month olfactory training program for 53 patients recovering from the coronavirus between April and September.
Likert scales and other subjective assessments showed that 38 patients experienced a loss of sense of smell while they were infected, while 35 said their sense of smell had recovered.
A more objective assessment such as the CC-SIT (Cross-Cultural Smell Identification Test), however, showed that only 20 patients had normal sense of smell.
Among 35 people who claimed that their sense of smell had improved, 24 were asked to smell pine needles, cinnamon, lemon, and peppermint for 10 seconds each, and take a 30-second break in between, twice a day for olfactory training, which claimed to be effective in previous literature and studies.
Over a two-month period, the CC-SIT scores of these patients rose from 9.2±0.79 points to 10.6±1.26 points, producing a meaningful result. In other subjective assessments and surveys, however, the numbers were statistically irrelevant.
“Depending on subjective assessments to study the sense of smell will generate inaccurate results. The two-month olfactory training has helped 70 percent of patients regain their sense of smell,” the research team said.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
