- This is not bowling,
this is "What the Stuff?!"
There are rules.
(hard rock music)
Body odor usually starts
with perspiration,
which feeds bacteria
that happen to excrete
gross smelling chemicals.
Regular bathing and a
deodorant or antiperspirant
keep most of us smelling so
♫ Fresh and so clean clean ♫
But some body odor has
nothing to do with sweating.
So, trimethylamine is a chemical
excreted by the bacteria
in our guts that help
us digest certain stuff,
like eggs, liver, soybeans,
peas, and some fish.
Those bacteria are great,
but trimethylamine, well,
it smells something like
rotting fish, or urine, or both.
Most of us have a digestive enzyme
that breaks down the chemical for us,
but in a rare disorder
called trimethylaminuria,
if you're not into that
whole brevity thing,
your body makes too little
or none of that enzyme.
The result, you give off a
very strong fish-like smell.
There's no cure, but
avoiding the trigger foods
and taking certain supplements can help.
Researchers at the Monell
Chemical Senses Center
found that elderly people
have a distinctive scent.
They think it's caused by changes
in aging skin's glands and secretions.
It may have developed to help
early humans differentiate
between younger, stronger potential mates
and older, less healthy ones.
On the plus side for old age,
the volunteer smell testers
in the study rated the
body odor of old men
as less unpleasant than
that of middle aged men.
That's right, spicy foods
can cause more than just bad breath.
Some spices, like garlic,
are metabolized by your body
to produce sulfur and
other stinky chemicals,
which are then excreted
through your sweat,
and hot and spicy dishes
can make matters worse.
Capsaicin, the active
chemical in hot peppers,
can stimulate the nerve
receptors in your mouth
and trick your nervous system
into thinking you're overheating,
which, in turn, makes you sweat more.
When untreated, diabetes can
cause diabetic ketoacidosis,
which means that, lacking the insulin
to regulate your metabolism,
your body is unnecessarily
breaking down fat for fuel.
It causes a sickeningly sweet aroma,
sort of like decomposing
apples, on your breath
and coming off of your body,
and it's one reason why,
when patients seek
treatment for body odor,
physicians may order blood or urine tests
to determine whether an
underlying issue is at fault.
That's all the body odor
stuff we have time for today,
but to learn more about
some of the conditions
that contribute to body
odor, from typhoid fever
to psychiatric disorders,
check out our article
"10 Sources of Body Odor
That Aren't Just Sweat"
on HowStuffWorks.com
And hey, I wanna know,
what do you think about body odor?
Tell me in the comments.
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