UF Health Researcher Finds Potential Treatment for Lost Sense of Smell

The idea seemed, at first blush, preposterous.

“I don’t know anyone spraying vitamin D up a patient’s nose,” said Jennifer Mulligan, Ph.D., co-director of the University of Florida Health Smell Disorders Program.

But there they were in 2012, Mulligan and her colleagues, trying to determine why their clinical trial had failed. They had given patients oral supplements of vitamin D to reduce nasal inflammation and reverse the loss of the sense of smell the inflammation often causes.

“It helped zero of 28 people,” she said.

However, Mulligan and her collaborators now believe they have discovered an idea that might ultimately lead to an effective treatment for the inflammation-related loss of the sense of smell.

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