My sense of smell had left me, or at least 85 percent of it. I visited a nutritionist for a totally different problem. When he looked at my list of symptoms, checked off from his symptom list, he told me that he was sure I was lacking zinc. He sent me for a nutrient profile at SpectraCell Labs and they found that I was, definitely, deficient in zinc. The nutritionist put me on a mineral supplement containing, zinc, magnesium, calcium and a few more things. Within one week my sense of smell was coming back.

Zinc also helps with RLS, as does calcium and magnesium.

My night vision also has greatly improved.

Zinc has so many functions in our bodies, I'm surprised it's not spoken of more often, as is in the case of calcium. Zinc affects fertiliy, thyroid, sleep, lack of it can cause dry skin, night blindness, loss of sense of smell and taste, sex drive and many other things.

Iodine is another thing that many people are lacking. Lack of iodine in the body, which the thyroid needs to function, can cause a multitude of symptoms, i.e. sleeplessness, mood swings, lack of sex drive, fertiliy problems, body temperature, you name it, if it's driven by hormones, iodine affects it. I hadn't slept an entire night in seven years. I was exhausted all of the time. Two nights after starting kelp supplements I slept all night and I was no longer freezing all of the time. A person can take too much kelp, however, so dulce, which is in the same family as kelp, is normally recommended.

Zinc has my vote. I agree with you completely about its importance. I've always had a very poor sense of smell and began taking it for a bad cold--recommended by my daughter--and my sense of smell blossomed, literally.

I've a theory that in mixing with other people we may give off some answering scent to each other that we're totally unaware of and those of us whose sense of smell doesn't function very well just don't get to participate in that part of the attracting, responding, mating game. Even more depressing.