I have a friend who has no sense of smell. He has been this way since childhood I believe or at least through most of his adult years. He is in his 60's. He quite enjoys food. He is thin, always has been. He has an identical twin brother, also thin, but with a normal sense of smell who also enjoys his food. They are both about the same weight. What are we supposed to glean from this? For one thing it shows that food can be enjoyed both with and without a sense of smell and also that sense of smell doesn't necessarily have a major effect on weight.

I think Teaser's point about how we adapt to the environment we find ourselves in is an important one. Our reductionist science tends to erase the complexity of biological processes. First we cut out functioning stomachs of obese people and now we think about eliminating their sense of smell. I think this says more about how we think about obese people than it does about understanding what drives weight gain and loss.

Jean