Fifth Sense: Support for people affected by smell and taste disorders

Fifth Sense is the charity for people affected by smell and taste disorders. They provide direct support and information to people affected by these hidden, under-recognised sensory impairments and their families. The charity also works to improve knowledge and understanding amongst professionals through education and training and is determined to support research to improve knowledge and understanding and accelerate the steps to treatments and potential cures. 

Smell loss and disorders are regarded as being rare conditions but they are more common than many people think. Numerous studies, undertaken in several countries to try to establish the prevalence of smell disorders, have suggested that anywhere from 1% to over 5% of people have no sense of smell (anosmia) with many more having a reduced ability to smell (hyposmia). Results vary according to who was surveyed in each study but taking all this into account, it is reasonable to say that potentially around 5% of the population has a smell disorder.

Taste disorders are rarer but there are instances when a person’s ability to taste food is compromised whilst their sense of smell is unaffected. For example, the loss of the sense of taste (ageusia) means that the ability to detect the basic tastes, sweet, sour, bitter, salt and umami, has gone, but the sense of smell is unaffected.