# Any cures for body odor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021 "2007-11-11T15:44:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/21 "2007-11-11T20:05:54Z")
Man, this thread fills me with such anxiety. For all I know, I just haven’t yet overheard what everyone’s saying. How would I know?! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/22 "2007-11-11T20:18:35Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] I’m not sure if diet has any real effect on body odor. I’m not aware of any real clinical evidence which supports this notion, but I have not really investigated it to any extent. Based on anecdotal evidence that I’ve read on vegetarian message boards, being an ardent carnivore can have a real impact on how you smell. However, I just don’t know if there is any veracity to these claims. [/QUOTE] There’s been at least [one study](http://www.vegansecrets.com/blog/?p=170) that claimes that vegetarians smell better. (BTW, the link is to a vegan site; I found other links but they were all subscription only) Anecdotally, I’ve noticed nasty body stink not from meat eaters specifically but from people who eat really crappy: meat and potato guys who never eat veggies and fruit. Stop eating crap. Do it for the body odor but you’ll find yourself feeling better, looking better (even if your bad diet isn’t making you gain weight at your young age, it’ll catch up with you) and, with your family history, you need to start those good habits now to keep from being an old, diabetes ridden amputee. ---
**Author:** ![TimSmith1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@TimSmith1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimSmith1982)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/23 "2007-11-11T20:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] Man, this thread fills me with such anxiety. For all I know, I just haven’t yet overheard what everyone’s saying. How would I know?! :eek: [/QUOTE] I should have mentioned that I can detect the smell with my own nose. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/24 "2007-11-11T20:27:08Z")
We smell bad to Asian people. I heard it in that movie, _Shogun_, I think it was. Actually, I did some checking, and apparently Europeans do smell ranker that Asians. In general. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/25 "2007-11-11T20:30:13Z")
[QUOTE=tremorviolet] There’s been at least that claimes that vegetarians smell better. (BTW, the link is to a vegan site; I found other links but they were all subscription only) Anecdotally, I’ve noticed nasty body stink not from meat eaters specifically but from people who eat really crappy: meat and potato guys who never eat veggies and fruit. . [/QUOTE] Vegetarians seem to smell better \*to other vegetarians. \* But of course, eating really badly, and being full of gas and constipated can make you have horribly body odors. You can eat 100% Vegan and eat badly, note. It’s just hwaaaaay easier in todays world to eat fast food, which is mostly meat based. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/26 "2007-11-11T20:35:12Z")
[QUOTE=TimSmith1982] I should have mentioned that I can detect the smell with my own nose. [/QUOTE] Phew. [QUOTE=tremorviolet] There’s been at least one study that claimes that vegetarians smell better. [/QUOTE] _Phew._ [QUOTE=mangeorge] Actually, I did some checking, and apparently Europeans do smell ranker that Asians. [/QUOTE] _Phew_! [QUOTE=DrDeth] Vegetarians seem to smell better to other vegetarians. [/QUOTE] Well, that’s good enough for me… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/27 "2007-11-11T21:19:53Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] Really? Doesn’t it itch like a big dog for the first week or so while it’s growing out? [/QUOTE] Nope. Neither does chest hair, although that is more prickly as stubble than underarm hair. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/28 "2007-11-11T21:35:32Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] Vegetarians seem to smell better \*to other vegetarians. \* [/QUOTE] That’s not what the study found which didn’t use exclusively vegetarians for the “raters”. Here’s a link to the [full text](http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/31/8/747). From the study: > [@](#): > > Current knowledge allows us only to speculate what particular compounds and metabolic processes are responsible for hedonic changes in body odor after the meat consumption. We propose that it could be due to changes in amount and/or relative abundance of aliphatic acids. The axillary region contains abundant numbers of apocrine glands producing milky secretions. Fresh apocrine secretion is odorless but is rapidly converted by axillary microflora to odorous breakdown products. Of particular interest are corynobacteria A as they metabolize fatty acids to short aliphatic acids (James et al. 2004). Chromatographic examination of axillary sweat found a number of both saturated and unsaturated and branched and nonbranched aliphatic acids particularly of C5–C11 length (Zeng et al. 1991). If this is the case, we may expect a correlation between the change in the odor and fat proportion in meat. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/29 "2007-11-11T21:40:26Z")
[QUOTE=Atomicktom] Nope. Neither does chest hair, although that is more prickly as stubble than underarm hair. [/QUOTE] You shave _your chest hair_ too? :eek: Are you a guy I don’t want to be on the same commercial airliner with, or just a competition swimmer? ---
**Author:** ![Strain\_of\_Thought](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Strain\_of\_Thought](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strain_of_Thought)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/30 "2007-11-11T21:54:03Z")
I have varying levels of BO from my armpits, that will not wash off. This BO is most definitely connected to my diet- if I eat beef from a fast food establishment (particularly Taco Bell) it spikes for days. I don’t know if armpit BO can be independent of perspiration, but for me they are synonymous. I come out of the shower sweet smelling, exert myself enough to start sweating, and immediately I smell. The interesting thing is that I have found that the _more_ I sweat, the less severe the BO gets. When I’ve been able to get regularly to a sauna- and drink up to a gallon of water while doing so- the BO has disappeared entirely. **TimSmith** , may I ask what you do for a living that has your boss watching you like a hawk? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/31 "2007-11-11T23:00:16Z")
[QUOTE=Washoe] You shave _your chest hair_ too? :eek: Are you a guy I don’t want to be on the same commercial airliner with, or just a competition swimmer? [/QUOTE] I’ve never shaved my armpits but have shaved pretty much everything else at one point or another out of boredom, curiosity, or vanity and I’ve only found one area to really itch when it grows back. Yeah. That one. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/32 "2007-11-11T23:08:23Z")
Speaking from experience, I also know this to be painfully true. Try rubbing about a tablespoon of aloe/lidocaine based sunburn lotion and a teaspoon or so of Benedryl lotion into the “affected” area. Takes the itch away immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/33 "2007-11-11T23:09:15Z")
[QUOTE=Aesiron] I’ve never shaved my armpits but have shaved pretty much everything else at one point or another out of boredom, curiosity, or vanity and I’ve only found one area to really itch when it grows back. Yeah. That one. [/QUOTE] I would say those are probably my reasons, too. And it just seems to make sense when you’re going to the gym (you just never seem to see a hairy bodybuilder). Actually, body odor isn’t an issue of mine. But I’ve never shaved “that one” area. Trim, yes. But not shave. Some areas, you don’t shave. You just admire. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/34 "2007-11-11T23:14:00Z")
Question-if you think you know the cause, why not change some of it? Eat better, exercise, get more fluids? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/35 "2007-11-11T23:17:59Z")
[QUOTE=Atomicktom] Trim, yes. But not shave. Some areas, you don’t shave. [/QUOTE] Solid plan all around, believe me. Just mow it. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/36 "2007-11-11T23:29:35Z")
Indeed. That fell squarely in the second category and now that that’s been sated, it won’t be repeated unless it’s medically required. Not only does it itch, it also looks absurd. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/37 "2007-11-12T00:21:51Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] We smell bad to Asian people. I heard it in that movie, _Shogun_, I think it was. [/QUOTE] Oh, for Og’s sake, sweetie, it was set in feudal times, when Europeans believed bathing was bad for your health! I think Blackthorne would have stunk to even modern American noses. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/38 "2007-11-12T00:34:25Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Oh, for Og’s sake, sweetie, it was set in feudal times, when Europeans believed bathing was bad for your health! I think Blackthorne would have stunk to even modern American noses. [/QUOTE] Oh. I’m a sweetie. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/39 "2007-11-12T01:34:14Z")
Uncle Cecil on [Asian Body Odor.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021004.html) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021/40 "2007-11-12T01:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=tremorviolet] That’s not what the study found which didn’t use exclusively vegetarians for the “raters”. Here’s a link to the [full text](http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/31/8/747). From the study: [/QUOTE] That is a fair study, and it’s the first I have seen which didn’t use vegetarians. But the study group is small and the differences were modest. I’d say this needed more study (and the cite agrees). Still, it’s a good cite, and thank you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-cures-for-body-odor/426021.md?page=3)