Olfactory Performance in Culinary Arts Students

NCT06066307 | Unknown Phase 4

• 1 other identifier: 23-06-11-1
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 120
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic brought impaired smell and taste to the forefront of international public awareness and clinical importance. Loss of smell can impair awareness of environmental hazards, alter appetite, and have negative effects on social behavior and well-being. Despite the significant functional impact associated with impaired olfaction, few effective treatments are available. Olfactory training (OT), the mainstay of treatment, is a self-administered therapy which involves a routine of repetitive brief odor exposures over several weeks. The process has been shown to improve odor discrimination, identification and detection threshold. However, the structured design and daily time commitment may be difficult to adopt for some patients, leading to poor compliance. Moreover, OT only exposes patients to a limited number of odours, failing to replicate the complexity of odor mixtures experienced daily in our chemosensory environment. OT has mainly been studied with four conventional odours encompassing the major odor categories; phenyl ethyl alcohol/rose (flowery odor), eucalyptol (aromatic), citronellal/lemon (fruity), and eugenol (clove) (resinous); however, this neglects the importance of emphasizing odors that culturally specific or personally relevant to the patient. For some patients, these factors could hinder their ability to adopt and comply with therapy. In contrast, cooking is a culturally ubiquitous activity that is already performed daily by most people, and naturally exposes us to personally meaningful and culturally relevant odors. However, there have been no published studies investigating the impact that odors encountered during meal preparation have on olfactory performance and development. The present study aims to compare the olfactory effects of culinary skills training to those of a conventionally designed OT program. To achieve this, olfactory testing will be conducted on students enrolled in a professional culinary skills training program at Fanshawe College, and a control group consisting of students in non-olfactory dependent programs at the same institution. To compare the effect of cooking to conventional OT, the study will be repeated for a second semester and students will be asked to perform concurrent OT.

Conditions

Loss of Smell; Olfactory Disorder

Keywords

Olfactory training; Olfaction; Smell; Hyposmia; Anosmia; Olfactory Disfunction

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Odor threshold discrimination identification scores

  Changes from Baseline (before the school semester) on Sniffin Stick test scores considering the three olfactory dimensions (threshold, discrimination, and identification). Higher scores in this test mean better olfactory status.

  Baseline, 4 months (after school semester)

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Subjective odor awareness

  Baseline, 4 months (after school semester)

• Olfactory specific quality of life

  Baseline, 4 months (after school semester)

Study Arms (4)

Olfactory training - Culinary arts students

EXPERIMENTAL

Students in culinary skill training program will perform olfactory training by sniffing four specific essential oils twice daily, over the entire semester (4-month period). The odors will comprise four major odor categories: flowery (phenyl ethyl alcohol/rose), aromatic (eucalyptol), fruity (citronellal/lemon), and resinous (eugenol). They will be assessed before and after the school semester.

Other: Olfactory training

Control group - Culinary arts students

NO INTERVENTION

Students in culinary skill training program will be assessed before and after the school semester, without any intervention throughout this period.

Olfactory training - Information Technology students

EXPERIMENTAL

Students in Information Technology program will perform olfactory training by sniffing four specific essential oils twice daily, over the entire semester (4-month period). The odors will comprise four major odor categories: flowery (phenyl ethyl alcohol/rose), aromatic (eucalyptol), fruity (citronellal/lemon), and resinous (eugenol). They will be assessed before and after the school semester.

Other: Olfactory training

Control group - Information Technology students

NO INTERVENTION

Students in Information Technology program will be assessed before and after the school semester, without any intervention throughout this period.

Interventions

Olfactory training OTHER

Olfactory training will be performed by sniffing four specific essential oils twice daily for 30 seconds each. Participants are encouraged to visualize the item they are smelling, while they perform the procedure, in a quiet room, with their eyes closed. The odors will comprise four major odor categories: flowery (phenyl ethyl alcohol/rose), aromatic (eucalyptol), fruity (citronellal/lemon), and resinous (eugenol).

Also known as: Smell training, Smell Rehabilitation, Olfactory Rehabilitation

Olfactory training - Culinary arts students; Olfactory training - Information Technology students

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• age 18 years or older
• enrolled in an introductory training program at Fanshawe collage (Culinary arts or Information Technology)
• capable of providing informed written consent
• capable of reading and writing in English

You may not qualify if:

• Participants with a history of anosmia, and chronic sinus disease.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Leigh Sowerby: lead
• Fanshawe College: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Fanshawe College

London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6, Canada

RECRUITING

Related Publications (14)

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  PMID: 32279441 BACKGROUND

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  PMID: 26662879 BACKGROUND

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  PMID: 33433688 BACKGROUND

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  PMID: 25201900 BACKGROUND

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  PMID: 19235739 BACKGROUND

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  PMID: 26624966 BACKGROUND

• Hummel T, Whitcroft KL, Andrews P, Altundag A, Cinghi C, Costanzo RM, Damm M, Frasnelli J, Gudziol H, Gupta N, Haehne A, Holbrook E, Hong SC, Hornung D, Huttenbrink KB, Kamel R, Kobayashi M, Konstantinidis I, Landis BN, Leopold DA, Macchi A, Miwa T, Moesges R, Mullol J, Mueller CA, Ottaviano G, Passali GC, Philpott C, Pinto JM, Ramakrishnan VJ, Rombaux P, Roth Y, Schlosser RA, Shu B, Soler G, Stjarne P, Stuck BA, Vodicka J, Welge-Luessen A. Position paper on olfactory dysfunction. Rhinol Suppl. 2017 Mar;54(26):1-30. doi: 10.4193/Rhino16.248.

  PMID: 29528615 BACKGROUND

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  PMID: 31766853 BACKGROUND

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  PMID: 26031472 BACKGROUND

• Greenberg MI, Curtis JA, Vearrier D. The perception of odor is not a surrogate marker for chemical exposure: a review of factors influencing human odor perception. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2013 Feb;51(2):70-6. doi: 10.3109/15563650.2013.767908.

  PMID: 23387344 BACKGROUND

• Majid A. Human Olfaction at the Intersection of Language, Culture, and Biology. Trends Cogn Sci. 2021 Feb;25(2):111-123. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.11.005. Epub 2020 Dec 18.

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  PMID: 29435824 BACKGROUND

• Spence C. Perceptual learning in the chemical senses: A review. Food Res Int. 2019 Sep;123:746-761. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2019.06.005. Epub 2019 Jun 5.

  PMID: 31285024 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Anosmia

Interventions

Olfactory Training

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Olfaction Disorders; Sensation Disorders; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Therapeutics

Central Study Contacts

Taciano Rocha, Ph.D, ACRP-CP

CONTACT

5196466100; taciano.rocha@sjhc.london.on.ca

Michal Kahanovitch, MSc

CONTACT

5196466100; michal.kahanovitch@sjhc.london.on.ca

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: phase 4
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Research staff involved in the smell tests and questionnaires administration will not be aware of the subjects allocation (whether OT or control)
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: MD, MHM, FRCSC

Model Details: Randomized controlled trial

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 27, 2023
• First Posted: October 4, 2023
• Study Start: September 25, 2023
• Primary Completion: September 25, 2024
• Study Completion: November 21, 2024
• Last Updated: October 6, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-10

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (1)