Why Do We Stink So Much? Talking Sweat Here.

Scientifically ...

In humans, sweating is primarily a means of thermoregulation, although it has been proposed that components of male sweat can act as pheromonal cues. Evaporation of sweat from the skin surface has a cooling effect due to the latent heat of evaporation of water. Hence, in hot weather, or when the individual's muscles heat up due to exertion, more sweat is produced. Sweating is increased by nervousness and nausea and decreased by cold. Animals with few sweat glands, such as dogs, accomplish similar temperature regulation results by panting, which evaporates water from the moist lining of the oral cavity and pharynx. Primates and horses have armpits that sweat similarly to those of humans.

Bromhidrosis or body odor (also called bromidrosis, osmidrosis and ozochrotia) is the smell of bacteria growing on the body. These bacteria multiply considerably in the presence of sweat, but sweat itself is almost totally odourless. Body odor is associated with the hair, feet, groin (upper medial thigh), anus, skin in general, armpits, genitals, pubic hair, and mouth.

Body odor is largely influenced by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. These are genetically determined and play an important role in immunity of the organism. The vomeronasal organ contains cells sensitive to MHC molecules in a genotype-specific way. Experiments on animals and volunteers shown the potential sexual partners tend to be perceived more attractive if their MHC composition is substantially different. This behavior pattern promotes variability of the immune system of individuals in the population, thus making the population more robust against new diseases.

A recent study suggests that body odor is genetically determined by a gene that also codes the type of earwax one has. East Asians evidently have a greater chance of having the 'dry' earwax type and reduced axial sweating and odor. This may be due to adaptation to colder climates.

So essentially Japanese do not need deodorants.

Too bad most of us arent japanese....

I'm not Japanese- and I haven't had my earwax analyzed and typed- but I almost never wear, (because I've been told by those who have gotten close to me) that I don't need to wear deoderant. I don't know why. I do though, take a bath at night (to relax) and a shower in the morning (to wake myself up) so I'd guess that bacteria doesn't really have a chance to linger much on my skin.

On the other hand, my brother, who is at least somewhat genetically similar to me as we share the same mother and father- has had to change his pillowcase with greater frequency than most people, since he was a child- even though he washes his hair everyday- his particular chemistry is particularly negatively odiferous- especially his scalp.

ugh...

I have been cursed with a sensitive nose. (well, in a way blessed with, since there ARE so many beautiful things to smell)

For me, honestly?

I rarely stink, since if I, once in a blue moon, get a whiff of something, not even enough to be considered a real smell, kinda like a zygote of an odor to come, I go to the nearest rest room, and clean the offending area.

People who stink? There are different catagories.

There's the sharp underarm odor of someone who's been out in the sun working all day....that's understandable, although I think sometimes it could have been avoided by underarm deodorant.

Worse, there the stink of someones clothes...the person whose body developed a stink, they removed their clothes, then later put them back on....gag-o-rama.

I know I'm on the edge here, but if I'm wearing one set of clothes, haven't been doing anything strenuous, have to change, like to go out to dinner, I simply can't change into different clothes unless I take a quick shower.

Hair stink, breath stink, underarm stink, clothes that should not have been put back on your body without getting laundered stink.

a quick preface, i do eat meat, in fact i'm about to go to the microwave to put some more in. however, i'm quite familiar with the advantages (and disadvantages) of eating vegan, and i knew a guy that didn't have to wear deoderant (and really, really didn't stink at all) because he never ate meat or processed foods.

bacteria from eating certain foods ends up in your sweat. of course there are still pheremones to consider, but as far as i know that's not the bulk of what you're smelling. humans haven't been able to process pheremones properly since they evolved tri-color vision, as i mentioned in another post. i don't know how much we would smell them anyway, there is lots of evidence that it's a different sense and set of sense organs that would be responsible- at least partially.

Well Chai, as women we were taught NOT to stink, correct? I was and can only assume that you were too. Everything you mentioned, including the quick shower between changes of clothing, goes the same for me too. But that mindset was taught. By my mother. She was very lady-like and boy did she struggle with me. And much of what she taught me stuck.

To give prey the chance to escape if Mighty Hunter approaches from upwind.

That stuff about the MHC molecules is very interesting, Vinsan, but tinyG, I have to tell you, I practically lived with the folks at the Earth Institute in Skiatook, Oklahoma. (It's gone now. I think.) Sufis, most of them, and not a bit of meat of any kind within the realm. After we would cut wood or clear a chunk of forest or dig a trench to put in the natural heating/cooling system (long story) we would meet in the eating area for lentil soup and the rest of the fixin's.
Those guys did not resemble any flowers from this planet, rather, the place would have the same odor as any other gym.

We can't process pheremones? Really?

Noddy, I'm looking for what advantages the smell of sweat brings us, if any, not helping the helpless, delicious, woodland creature types to escape.

Joe(man, this jersey I'm wearing is already beginning to fume)Nation

I recall someone posit that the smell was from the expired bacteria.

i do think there's a point where washing become necessary, either way. the guy i mentioned wasn't at a gym, he was in an office setting (no one complained about him or had reason to.)

if he spent a week running around without a shower, he might stink too.

as far as pheremones, i read about organs discovered as recently as in the past 10 years that scientists think may be related. i'm not saying we don't produce them, i'm saying we might not smell them (i'm not sure about that.) and if we do smell them, they don't have the same meaning to us anymore.

pheremone processing is related to a gene that finally mutated into being nonfunctional, about the same time we developed a gene for tri-color vision. color vision is more common in animals than most people think, but it's bi-color, not tri-color.

there is also a pair of nerves at the base of the brain that was recently discovered. scientists had never located it before, because the nerves are small and usually were pulled off along with the membrane during dissection. scientists think they may be related to another sense, but not necessarily a functional one. perhaps this is why they are so small now. i wouldn't know.

Heh....you know what eoe?

That is absolutely NOT the case with me.

My mother wasn't a dirty person physically, as far as I can remember (although not much of a housekeeper)

However, I don't know if she had a blind spot where it came to the fact I was growing up, or what that meant (we never did have "The Talk". I just figured it out for myself)

I can remember sitting in church, in the summer, and realizing I stunk, and was mortified. I guess I was too young to figure out to just go out and buy deodorant for myself, because I went and asked her to buy me some. She ADAMANTLY refused, telling me I was too young to use such things. She absolutely refused to let me shave my legs too, even when I told her some girls at school were making fun of me.

So, it was really more of a battle to be allowed the privilege of being clean.

No, I just always hated sweating, or having grime on me.

Fresh sweat and stale sweat are two very different odors.

Perhaps at some point in human history the female nose was capable of distinguishing "hard worker" from "lazy lout" by smell alone.

Stale sweat (and the decaying flakes of skin that accumulate on an unwashed body) could indicate a man unmindful of sanitation. The feminine psyche being complicated, this Body Odor could be either a turn off for romance or a turn-on for those damn fools who think of an Flawed Man as a delightful, lifetime project.



Lingering sweaty smells from clothes and bedding could indicate that the cave you just discovered belonged to someone else (as could the open latrine in the corner of that cave).

Fear can cause sweat--perhaps a victim breaking into a cold sweat could inspire mercy in the oppressor?

Any predator that doesn't have the sense to approach from downwind is going to be a hungry predator--and poor provider.

the part of noddy was played by elizabeth taylor

Tinygiraffe--

You flatter me--and I love flattery.

I think men do naturally smell repulsive to one another, but a woman's sweat to a man might be a different story, or not, depending on how attracted to her you are.

Newborn babies can recognize their mothers' sweat.

Also fresh sweat can smell like wine if you drink too much of alcohol.

The skin sweat glands do ooz the alcohol from our blood via sweat.

Wine oozes and Garlic too seems to seep out of some people's pores and not from others.

A friend of mine chews whole raw garlic cloves whenever he feels a cold coming on, it is not his breath that becomes garlicky, but his overall, um, aura.
If I sneak a little cooked clove out of the spaghetti sauce, I can smell it and taste it for the next couple of hours. Those nearby, (the honest ones) report they smell nothing.

Noddy's on the right track, I think, with the good smell, bad smell process of mate selection evolutionarily speaking, but part of it might be the attempt to distant ourselves from sickness. Bad smells bring forth bad things or something like that. Not so much smell, not so much sickness. Maybe?

Of course, smelling good is a relatively new thing for humans. (Some still haven't discovered the possibilities of soap.) Isn't the tradition of carrying a bouquet of flowers at weddings based on the frontier days (American) use of the sweet smell of lilacs to cover up the unwashed odor of the bride?

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Aren't mothers funny, Chai? Some of them fight like the dickens to keep their children in the ungrown up state while others are troweling on the make-up at age eight. Rule to remember: The daughter of the first type of mother will ALWAYS have a best friend who is the daughter of the second type.
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Quincy: Some women's sweat is attractive, but I've also been in [/I]situations where I suddenly had this crazy urge to take a shower with one of them (Oh, please, don't say no.) or getting out before anything else might occur.

Joe(C'mon, it'll be fun. Where's that Dial Soap??)Nation

So...talking sweat......does anyone else have a "normal" BO smell if the deodorant runs out, but this really AWFUL smell when REALLY exercising hard over a longer period....at some point of pushing myself I really stink.


It's like there's this whole other sweat that comes into play. Ewwwww....