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Does bariatric surgery change olfactory perception? Results of the early postoperative course

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International Journal of Colorectal Disease Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Changes of food preference toward foods with low caloric density have been demonstrated after bariatric surgery and may contribute to sustained body weight loss. It has been hypothesized that olfactory perception as an integral part of food selection might be altered after bariatric surgery.

Methods

Sniffin’ Sticks® were used to investigate the olfactory perception of morbidly obese patients undergoing either Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB, n = 15) or sleeve gastrectomy (SG, n = 15) before 1, 6, 12, and 24 weeks after surgery. Obese patients without surgical intervention served as controls (CG, n = 12). Results are presented using the testing odor threshold, discrimination, and identification score (TDI; higher scores indicate better olfactory perception). Body weight loss was recorded.

Results

Initial BMI of the SG group (56.04 ± 7.096 kg m−2) was higher compared to the BMI of the RYGB (48.71 ± 6.49 kg m−2) and CG (50.35 ± 6.78 kg m−2); p = 0.011. Body weight loss among the surgical groups was not different (p = 0.011) while controls did not lose weight. Mean baseline TDI scores were significantly lower in the SG group 27.1 ± 3.9 vs. 32.6 ± 3.6 (RYGB) and 32.1 ± 5.3 (CG), respectively, whereas there were after 24 weeks no changes in RYGB and CG patients; the TDI score in the SG group increased significantly to 31.1 ± 3.5 (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

Our data suggest that a substantial body weight loss per se does not affect olfactory perception. However, our results point towards improved olfactory perception after sleeve gastrectomy but not Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Kathrin Bischof and Kathrin Hohl for their skillful assistance during the data recruitment, and we thank Dr. Imme Haubitz for the statistical analysis. Additionally, we thank Dr. Dieter Schneider for his guidance.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General, Visceral, Vascular and Paediatric Surgery, University Hospital of Würzburg, Oberdürrbacher Str. 6, 97080, Würzburg, Germany

    Christian Ferdinand Jurowich, Florian Seyfried, Jana Deckelmann & Christoph-Thomas Germer

  2. Section of Investigative Medicine, Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK

    Alexander Dimitris Miras

  3. Department of Surgery, Division of Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Marco Bueter

  4. Department of Internal Medicine I, Endocrine Unit, University Hospital of Würzburg, Oberdürrbacher Str. 6, Würzburg, Germany

    Martin Fassnacht

  5. Department of Surgery, RoMed Klinik Bad Aibling, Bad Aibling, Germany

    Andreas Thalheimer

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  1. Christian Ferdinand Jurowich
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  2. Florian Seyfried
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Correspondence to Christian Ferdinand Jurowich.

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Jurowich, C.F., Seyfried, F., Miras, A.D. et al. Does bariatric surgery change olfactory perception? Results of the early postoperative course. Int J Colorectal Dis 29, 253–260 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00384-013-1795-5

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