Doctors sniffy about DIY dementia test

The home testing kit is proving popular

A "scratch and sniff" test kit for dementia sold over the internet is under investigation by US officials.

The home test, which is claimed to offer an early warning of the devastating disease, does not have approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Early Alert test consists of 12 strips which, when scratched, release common smells such as cinnamon and rose.

The patient is asked to sniff each scent, then try to identify it.

Failure to do so on more than three out of five occasions may be an indicator that dementia is a possibility, say the makers.

Loss of sense of smell is supposedly one of the first indicators of the encroachment of dementia.

However, a definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's is possible only after death, although there are various methods of testing for a decline in cognitive skills.

FMG Innovations, the Arizona-based company which developed and sells the £13 test, claims its free-phone number and website have been overwhelmed by demand for the test since it went on sale last month.

Arguing against

"Early Alert has been designed to assist in early detection of possible Alzheimer's disease by determining if there is a degraded sense of smell," said a spokesman.

He added: "Failing the test does not mean you have Alzheimer's disease."

Dr Gregory Pelton of the New York Psychiatric Institute, one of the scientists who first noticed the correlation between loss of smell-sense and Alzheimer's disease, disputed the validity of the test.

He told the newspaper USA Today that Early Alert was "fundamentally inconsistent" with his findings.

Another doctor, Linda Nee, of the American National Institutes of Health, told the newspaper Early Alert "would cause people to be falsely relieved or falsely alarmed".

The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it would be investigating the test after the company wrote to clarify whether it was in breach of regulations.