Page 82 - The Miracles of Smell and Taste

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Good Health in Scents
Aromas obtained from plant essences or oils have been used

for therapeutic purposes for thousands of years. This technique is
based on the fact that different scents produce different effects in
people. Today, experiments performed using electroencepha-
lography (EEG), which identify electrical signals inside the
brain, have shown that certain odors can have desired ef-
59
fects on the brain. Smelling certain aromas sets into ac-
tion some unidentified systems in the brain. As a result,
developments affecting heartbeat, blood pressure, respi-
ration, the memory, stress levels and certain hormones all
take place. 60
But how do plants know which aromas will benefit
human health? How can they establish the most highly ad-
vanced laboratories to produce health-giving aromas inside
their own tissues? How do they create aromatic scent molecules,

capable of containing up to 500 different chemical substances
and with exceedingly complex structures? 61 How are
they able to squeeze their pleasant aromas into the
limits of a scent-perception system—which they are
not acquainted with and whose functions they are un-
aware of—can perceive? How do they determine the
ideal concentrations for human beings?
When the question is examined from
the other side, we encounter these ques-
tions: How is the human sense of smell
able to distinguish among the individual
aromas of thousands of plants? How
do scent-receptor cells without the

The Miracles of Smell and
Taste