Il high cholesterol is often nicknamed the “invisible killerBecause of its absence of symptoms: specific blood tests only, which reveal i ldl and hdl levelscan shed light on the pathology that in the vast majority of cases leads to the onset of heart disease.
Generally the body does not warn us if them arteries are clogging due to the presence of too much fat in the blood and we already find ourselves fighting high levels of the so-called bad cholesterol.
However there are some small exceptions, gods alarm bells to pay close attention to if they appear (be careful if you have nails of this color, it is among the very rare symptoms): a 2020 study published in the journal Laryngoscope has in fact traced a curious link between high cholesterol levels and “perception of phantom odor “.
Perception of phantom odor was defined as a signal of a unpleasant, bad or pungent odor when in reality there is nothing. Hearing smells like this even if we are not near a garbage can, for example, could be the warning light. pushing us to control cholesterol (here’s how to bring cholesterol numbers back to acceptable levels at the table).
To reach this conclusion, cross-sectional data were collected as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2011 to 2014, obtaining a nationally representative sample of 7,417 adults aged 40 or over.
Key findings included that adults with high cholesterol already diagnosed but checked, reported smelling phantom odors more frequently than those without high cholesterol. Same condition for who was a stroke risk (this hidden ingredient in foods can increase the risk of stroke), for those suffering from hypertension and who had the diabetes and took both oral medications and insulin.