How Does Food Affect Your Body Odor?

Ludwig Feuerback said, “You are what you eat.” Plus, you smell like what you eat. The Evolution & Natural Behavior study , conducted by a group of researchers at Macquarie University in Australia, found that your diet can determine the body odor you give off.

What do you smell like?

The skin is the largest organ you have. Its function is to protect you, regulate temperature, store water and communicate with the outside world through sensory stimulation.

Through your pores you eliminate toxins in the form of sweat. That is why it is important to encourage these substances to leave your body. In addition, it is logical to conclude that food affects body odor. What you eat can affect the smell you give off.

The influence of hormones on body odor

Everyone has a different body odor, and this has to do with hormones. It depends on both gender and genetics. As we mentioned, food also affects your sweat, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

In other words, some foods can make you sweat more, while others change their composition, making them smell different.

Foods that cause an unpleasant body odor

Spicy foods make you sweat more because they contain capsaicin, which makes you feel a burning sensation. The receptors of the nervous system are activated, which work in the same way as in the middle of summer. That is why you feel your temperature rise when you eat something spicy.

Red meat

A study published by the Oxford Academic Journal concluded that eating too much red meat makes it harder for the body to burn fat and gain energy. This causes your sweat to be full of toxins. As a result, this leads to an unpleasant odor.

Refined carbohydrates

There is a direct relationship between people consuming too much of this food and bad body odor.

Spices

Kerry, cumin, fenugreek and turmeric cause a very special smell. However, if you like these herbs, the smell will not bother you.

Garlic and Onion cause an unpleasant body odor

In addition to their healing properties, both garlic and onions contain sulfoxides. It’s a compound that gets into your tissues very easily. Therefore, it causes you to give off that specific and unpleasant odor through every pore in your skin.

Fish

There is a metabolic disease called trimethylaminuria that produces a strong odor like rotting fish. This is because people who suffer from it cannot process the substance released from fish during the decomposition process.

Food that makes you smell good

The same Evolution & Natural Behavior study shows that people who eat more fruits and vegetables give off a sweeter, even floral scent.

Pineapples and oranges, for example, give you a pleasant scent. On the other hand, leafy greens act as a natural deodorant, thanks to the chlorophyll they contain.

Also include probiotics in your diet. They help to digest toxins, reducing the body odor of sweat.

Mint and cardamom can also aid in the digestive system and thereby give your body a fresh scent.