Hidden Smell Loss in Kidney Disease and Diabetes

In this episode, Dr. Wu and co-host Darren Gonzalez unpack a striking finding from Odor Olfactory Dysfunction in Chronic Kidney Disease and Diabetes Mellitus and Its Association with Nutritional Factors, published in the Caspian Journal of Internal Medicine in 2025 by Kamyar Iravani, Aida Doostkam, Jamshid Roozbeh, Leila Malekmakan, Seyed Reza Kasaee, and Amir Soltaniesmaeili of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran. Over half of CKD patients and nearly 40 percent of diabetic patients had measurable smell loss — yet most had no idea. Dr. Wu breaks down the two completely different biological mechanisms driving olfactory damage in each disease, explains the counterintuitive LDL cholesterol finding, and makes the case for why a simple scratch-and-sniff test should become standard clinical practice for anyone living with chronic kidney disease or diabetes.