Could Urine Odor Predict Alzheimer's Disease?

There is a new discovery for Alzheimer's disease! Researchers found that changes before onset of dementia include a unique smell of urine,"previous research from the USDA and Monell has focused on body odor changes due to exogenous sources such as viruses or vaccines. Now we have evidence that urinary odor signatures can be altered by changes in the brain characteristic of Alzheimer's disease," said study author Bruce Kimball, Ph.D., a chemical ecologist with the USDA National Wildlife Research Center. "This finding may also have implications for other neurologic diseases."

Medical News Today reported that a team of scientists used three different types of mice genetically altered to mimic the brain and behavioral changes seen in Alzheimer’s disease, the group found that each strain of mice produced urinary odor profiles that were distinct from those of the control mice. These differences were due to differences in concentrations of the same compounds,

The latest finding could also pave the way for treatments to slow the disease’s progression, Co-author Dr Daniel Wesson, of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, said: ‘While this research is at the proof-of-concept stage, the identification of distinctive odor signatures may someday point the way to human biomarkers to identify Alzheimer’s at early stages."