# Do certain races or ethnic groups have odors that are particular to that group? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382 "2007-04-09T22:00:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/1 "2007-04-09T22:00:50Z")
I was reading a bit about body odor on wiki and this question popped into my head. Obviously as it states in the wiki article some body odors peculiar to a group can be explained by different cultural hygiene and dietary habits while others maybe not so much. The article also had this interesting tidbit: > [@](#): > > Since body odor often differs between cultures (because diet and hygiene differ between cultures), and because people find unfamiliar body odors to be disagreeable, body odor has long been used by societies to look down on others. 17th century Japanese encountering Europeans for the first time found their odor particularly strong and likened it to the smell of rancid butter, and assigned the name bata-kusai (roughly meaning “stinks of butter”) to visiting Europeans at the time. I will admit I have noticed an odor that seems to be peculiar to black people and other groups like Indians and also the Mexicans I worked with doing construction in Florida (though that could be easily explained by diet.) I don’t know maybe white people have a smell I’ve never noticed since I am white and the Japanese noted one maybe as a result of consuming dairy products. Anyone have any knowledge they can impart on this subject? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/2 "2007-04-09T22:06:21Z")
I think it’s not a racial thing, but a cultural thing. Foods and products that are consumed by ethnic groups is probably what you’re smelling. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/3 "2007-04-09T23:06:41Z")
White people smell like baloney. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/4 "2007-04-09T23:11:47Z")
Diet explains most of it, culture the rest. Really, what else could it be? It’s not like certain races have musk glands and others don’t. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/5 "2007-04-09T23:12:22Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I think it’s not a racial thing, but a cultural thing. Foods and products that are consumed by ethnic groups is probably what you’re smelling. [/QUOTE] I agree. I’m not Italian, but you might think so by the garlic smell. (I love the stuff!!) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/6 "2007-04-09T23:17:13Z")
At least some Asians apparently have fewer apocrine sweat glands than some other groups. These are the glands most responsible for body odor. Here is Cecil’s column on the subject: [Do Chinese lack sweat glands in their armpits?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021004.html) As an anecdote, when I lived in New Zealand I had a friend who was half English and half Chinese. When he went to visit his mother’s family in China for the first time in his mid-20s, they all told him he “smelled like a white person.” (This was not a compliment.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/7 "2007-04-09T23:47:36Z")
Related threads: **GQ** : [Why do different races have different body odors?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=378143) **IMHO** : [Do Westerners smell bad to Easterners based on their high fat diet?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=239731) **IMHO** : [Do Black People Think That White People ‘Smell’?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=170957) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/8 "2007-04-09T23:52:13Z")
Besides ethnic foods, there’s the possibility that there _might_ be detectable scent differences; I’ve no idea if it’s ever been tested. Given that women can detect whether or not a man is related to them by scent, ( likely by detecting his MHC \*, it’s believed ), it might be possible to detect the relatedness of other groupings by scent. This is sheer speculation on my part, however. - Major Histocompatibility Complex; an immune system molecule ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/9 "2007-04-10T00:43:41Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Besides ethnic foods, there’s the possibility that there _might_ be detectable scent differences; I’ve no idea if it’s ever been tested. Given that women can detect whether or not a man is related to them by scent, ( likely by detecting his MHC \*, it’s believed ), it might be possible to detect the relatedness of other groupings by scent. This is sheer speculation on my part, however. - Major Histocompatibility Complex; an immune system molecule [/QUOTE] We can? I’ve never noticed anything like this. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/10 "2007-04-10T01:00:28Z")
[QUOTE=NinjaChick] We can? I’ve never noticed anything like this. [/QUOTE] [Yup.](http://discovermagazine.com/1996/feb/scentofaman699). > [@](#): > > Wedekind is testing women’s responses to sweaty T-shirts–men’s sweaty T-shirts. He has found that women have strong preferences in that department. They’re attracted to the scent of men who are most unlike them in a very particular way–in the array of immune system genes known as MHC, for major histocompatibility complex. > > MHC genes are the most diverse of all genes. In fact, they differ so widely from person to person that they constitute a molecular John Hancock, one that helps an organism recognize its own healthy cells, identify pathogens, and reject foreign tissue. The idea that they may also confer a distinctive odor, and thereby influence behavior, was first suggested in 1974 by biologist Lewis Thomas. Laboratory studies soon proved Thomas right in the case of mice. Inbred mice–who were alike in all genes but MHC–could detect a difference in the scent of a relative that harbored an ever-so-slightly different MHC gene. Moreover, their odor preferences were not innate but learned. Young mice tend to prefer the odor of their nest mates, but when they hit puberty, it’s vive la différence: they prefer to mate with mice whose MHC genes are unlike their own. > > Since the mouse studies were done, researchers have found that humans, too, can detect MHC-dependent odors. But no one had shown that we prefer some such odors to others. ---
**Author:** ![illoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a3d4f5/32.png) [@illoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/illoe)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/11 "2007-04-10T01:33:14Z")
**NinjaChick** , I’ve know three or four fellows (various ages, all Caucasian) who have an appealing sort of pencil-shavings smell to their everyday sweat that is distinct from the scent of most men. I find this smell very attractive, regardless of the age/personality/general romantic suitability of the guy. Anecdotal, yes, but it effectively personalizes the study cited by **Der Trihs** for me. More on-topic: last year, scientists isolated a gene that controls whether [ear wax](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/science/29cnd-ear.html?ex=1296190800&en=7f6c667589328421&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss) is wet (Europeans and Africans) or dry (Asians and Native Americans). This supports Cecil’s 2002 musings (linked in **Colibri** ’s post), since ear wax and armpit odor are correlated and the variants of the ear wax gene are very clearly associated with different populations. ---
**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/12 "2007-04-10T12:41:08Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] White people smell like baloney. [/QUOTE] OMG that’s true! I’ve known more than one person to say this - and my own husband has, in the past, smelled like baloney. Too funny! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/13 "2007-04-10T12:51:32Z")
I haven’t noticed PEOPLE having a particular scent, but years ago, when I was a substitute teacher, I found that I could tell as soon as I stepped inside a school lobby for the first time if there were a lot of African-American students, just by the smell. Not the people, the hair products! When there are a lot of kids in a building using Jeri-Curl, you notice it right away! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/14 "2007-04-10T13:22:53Z")
In high school anatomy/biology we did an experiment. We were all given t-shirts by our instructor that had been washed in a fragrance free detergent. We were to put these on the next day and wear them for 7 days without washing. We also were to use fragrance free soap, shampoo and lotions. Perfume, hair spray, cologne etc were forbidden. (Stinky! But it was all in the name of science!!) He would walk by us every day and if he detected any fragrance on you then you were out of the experiment. After the 7th day we put our t-shirts in bags. Only he knew then whose was whose. The goal was to find your own t-shirt and also report the identity of the owners of other shirts if we could. The results were interesting. I don’t recall the exact breakdown but all of the girls found their own shirt. We were also able to identify the most of the other students. Very few of the boys identified their own and were unable to identify classmates. (A couple of them did but we had to factor in luck) The funny thing was, I recall how easy it was to find mine. I very quickly identified my lab partner (who was also a close friend of mine) and I was able to easily identify the two partners that sat at a table with my partner and I. The others were more difficult to sort out. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2007, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-certain-races-or-ethnic-groups-have-odors-that-are-particular-to-that-group/399382/15 "2007-04-10T14:09:48Z")
Anecdotally, and based squarely on the “cultural rather than racial” idea, I can walk into the toilets at work, and tell if the person who’s just dropped a bomb in there is Vietnamese or Anglo-Australian. The Vietnamese variety smells worse to me, and my Vietnamese friends say the opposite (and I believe them). A few Lebanese people I know have a rancid sort of body odour. I could never tell why, because they were very clean guys. I put it together when one of them offered me my first coffee with cardamom in it. The coffee was great, but the smell went straight to my pores, and it was that same rancid smell.