19th October 2022 || 1100 Words || Source
When our senses aren’t as strong as they should be, it can be really disorienting. While your sight and sound might feel more important, you’d be surprised how much of an effect they can have on you when your smell and taste start to dwindle.
More often than not, if your taste or smell starts to get worse, there’s a very high chance the other one will soon follow. This is because they are both connected via the olfactory area of the nose. There are lots of different reasons why your sense of smell and taste might get bad, but there are some things that help make them better.
Luckily, there are a few vitamins that can help you improve your sense of smell and taste. Each of the vitamins we have put together here is great to take if you feel your smell and taste aren’t as good as they should be.
The Best Vitamins To Improve Your Sense of Smell and Taste
From Vitamin D to Zinc, each of the vitamins on this list has been proven to improve your smell and taste.
If you are concerned about your sense of smell and taste and you want to find natural remedies for making them better, then read on about each of these vitamins to get a better understanding of what it is they do.
Vitamin D
The first vitamin we are going to be looking at is Vitamin D. There have been many studies into Vitamin D and its connection to restoring one’s sense of smell.
Lots of people actually have a Vitamin D deficiency, especially in countries and areas that have less sunlight and are colder. In order to keep your sense of smell strong, it is important to have a good Vitamin D balance.
Luckily, you can get lots of Vitamin D supplements, especially if you live in a colder climate with less sunlight. In order to improve your sense of smell, you need about 15 mcg of vitamin D in the form of supplementation a day.
If you’d rather not use supplements, then some great ways you can get more Vitamin D in your diet include eating meats, fortified cereals, lentils, soy products, and drinking orange juice.
Zinc
Zinc is another great source of Vitamin D. It is also really good for fighting off infections, treating acne, boosting your immune system, and healing wounds.
It isn’t as widely known, however, that zinc actually helps in the function of your taste buds, and a lack of zinc in your body has been linked to loss of taste.
You can take zinc supplements if you have a zinc deficiency, and you need about 13mg of zinc a day in order for it to be effective. If you’d rather not take supplements, you can get zinc from lots of different foods, including poultry, seafood, and red meats.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 is known for keeping your red blood cells healthy, as well as keeping your nerve cells healthy and helping build DNA. If you have a Vitamin B12 deficiency, then you may also suffer from loss of smell, disturbed vision, and even anaemia.
In order for Vitamin B12 to help you regain and improve your sense of smell and taste, you need to have about 4-5 mcg of it a day. Just like Zinc and Vitamin D, you can take a Vitamin B12 supplement, but if you’d rather not do that method, you can also get Vitamin B12 from cereals and breakfast bars, fish such as trout and tuna, and even clams. Meat of all kinds is also a good source of Vitamin B12.
Vitamin A
Another vitamin you can try if your taste and smell aren’t great is Vitamin A. There hasn’t been as much study into Vitamin A, but over the last few years, scientists have discovered that it does actually help in improving your sense of smell and taste.
It is recommended that you take a couple of drops of Vitamin A when you feel like your sense of smell and taste aren’t as good as they should be. Lots of people turned to Vitamin A during the COVID-19 outbreak, and they reported that it helped in bringing their sense of smell back quite effectively.
It should be noted, however, that too much Vitamin A can be quite dangerous, so make sure that you are taking it in extreme moderation. If you are pregnant, it’s best to avoid taking Vitamin A at all because it has actually been linked to birth defects.
If you do want to try using Vitamin A to improve your sense of smell and taste, first consult your doctor and see what they have to say about it. Do not take Vitamin A before you have consulted them!
Other Ways To Help Improve Your Sense of Smell and Taste
There are some other things you can look into if you want to improve your sense of smell and taste, and it seems like the vitamins aren’t working. If you try out some of these other methods, you are likely to see improvements in your sense of smell and taste quite quickly.
Smoking is one of the biggest factors when it comes to poor smell and taste. There have been lots of studies done on smoking that link it directly to poor smell and taste. Smoking actually damages these senses, so if you smoke quite regularly, it’s in your best interest to quit if you can, or at the very least cut-down.
Ginger is another thing that helps improve your smell and taste. Ginger actually helps reduce inflammation in the nasal airways and can reduce the amount of excess mucus forming, which can cause your smell to be worse. One of the best ways you can consume ginger is in the form of ginger tea.
You can also try castor oil as it has an active component called ricinoleic acid. Ricinoleic acid helps to fight infections and it also helps to reduce nasal passage swelling and inflammation caused by colds and allergies, and it can help in improving your sense of smell and taste.
Conclusion
Having a reduced sense of smell and taste can be incredibly disorientating and can be quite distracting too. These senses are often taken for granted because they are always there, but when they get worse they can be quite noticeable.
The vitamins we have listed here have been researched and proved to be the best vitamins to help improve your sense of smell and taste.
Before you take any vitamin supplements, always make sure that you consult your doctor and follow their advice.
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