the journal Nature Genetics.Researchers at 23andme said they conducted a survey involving nearly 70,000 individuals who tested positive for COVID-19.
Of those respondents, 68% reported having a loss of smell and taste. The study also noted that women were 11% more likely than men to report not having taste or smell after a COVID-19 infection.
Seventy-three percent of people who suffered the loss were between 26 and 35 years old.RELATED: Long-term COVID-19 smell, taste loss could impact millions, researchers sayResearchers then conducted a genome study of those who reported the symptom and those who reported they didn’t have the symptom.
Researchers found a location near two genes— UGT2A1 and UGT2A2— associated with the loss of taste and smell from a COVID-19 infection.