Losing your sense of smell can ruin Christmas dinner – and harm your health
For thousands of people in the UK, smell and taste disorders turn Christmas into a season without flavour or aroma, writes Carl Philpott
Imagine sitting down to a festive feast and tasting… nothing.
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A feast without flavour: The hidden impact of smell and taste loss at Christmas.
For thousands of people in the UK, smell and taste disorders turn Christmas into a season without flavour or aroma.
These conditions are more common than you think. Smell and taste disorders can impact mental health and enjoyment, but it is possible to help sufferers rediscover the magic of Christmas scents and flavours.
When we eat, we smell food on the outside, then smell it again on the inside when it’s in our mouths. This happens alongside taste, which is the sensations of salt, sweet, sour, bitter and umami. The rest of flavour perception comes from our sense of smell, which helps us tell the difference between sage and thyme, or turkey and chicken. So, if we lose our sense of smell, those five basic tastes are all that remains of flavour.
Changes in our sense of smell affect 1 in 5 of the population, increasing with age and affecting up to 2 in 5 of those over 80. Typical causes include sinusitis, common cold, viral infections, head injury and smell loss, which may also be an early sign of Parkinson’s Disease, as well as a common feature of dementia.
If the flavours and smells of all those festive treats and decorations were gone, the whole Christmas experience, including eating, would become much less pleasurable. This then has a knock-on effect on social activities related to eating, as well as meaning that the nutritional quality of diet can be adversely affected.
There are therefore significant mental and nutritional health burdens associated with smell loss, and paying attention to our smell health is really important for our general well-being. One way to counteract this is a rehabilitation technique called smell training, which can be undertaken by anyone using the contents of your cupboards at home.
Regular stimulation of your sense of smell may help with healthy ageing, as sensory stimulation across all senses can positively impact brain health. For those unsure about how well their sense of smell is working, visit our website to find out more.
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Prof Carl Philpott, Professor of Rhinology & Olfactology at The University of East Anglia (UEA) and Honorary Consultant Rhinologist for Norfolk & Waveney ENT Service, is an internationally recognised expert in smell and taste disorders, chronic rhinosinusitis, and endoscopic sinus surgery, leading major research initiatives including the NIHR-funded MACRO Programme, published in The Lancet in August 2025.
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