I searched the columns archive, and also the MB archives and didnt see anything that asked/really addressed this, so…
On one of my mail lists, the subject of eating red meat and body odor came up. It got me wondering, how does eating (excessive amounts of) red meat contribute to a stronger body odor?
Now I do NOT want this to get into the benefits of veganism/vegetarianism versus eating meat (go do that in GD). If it does, I will ask that this thread be closed down :).
Thanks.
Okay, trying to keep within your guidelines: In Vietnam the locals would often make comments about how Americans smelled funny. There was even the story that smell was one way the Viet Cong could tell if an American was hiding somewhere. The different odor was attributed to the American diet that was richer in red meat. This is not a very scientific study, but it’s one I remember.
What you put into your body affects what comes out…and that includes your odor.
Well, not smell worse, but different. But chlorophyll does reduce body odor, even gas & excreta, and vegans get more of it in their diet, so that may make them smell less. You can buy Chlorophyll pills in health stores.
I’ve never heard that eating red meat will give you body odor. But where I come from there are a lot of deer hunters so most everyone eats deer meat. I do not know why but the stuff gives you gas and believe me there is nothing more disgusting than the smell of a deer fart!
Needs2know
I do not know about body odor but carnivore poop smells much worse than that of herbivores.
Perhaps I should clarify a bit. People from cultures that do not eat much red meat if at all say that Westerners (specially Americans) have a funny odor and tend to smell worse when they sweat. Now, is there something that happens when you eat more red meat than you should that causes this body odor (not talking about flatulence here). Someone on the list I mentioned said that he barely had any noticeable body odor while living in Indonesia (they dont eat much beef). So, he attributes the lessened smell to not eating much red meat.
Well, here’s my theory:
Your body temperature: ~98.6 degrees
Average digestion time for red meats: several hours+
Smell of meat after several hours in 98-degree temps and after initially bathing in acid: bad
Of course, it’s subjective: if you like the smell of meat coming out of the oven, well, that blows my Theory to hell (except I would argue the acid has much to do with it). However, if fresh meat out of the oven smells to you like, well, seared animal flesh, there you go. If you live in an area where everybody eats meat, then suffice it to say you probably won’t notice anything. Many people say they can smell garlic in BO after someone has eaten enough of it. So I wouldn’t have trouble believing the same about meat. Personally, I think it’s much more noticeable in someone’s breath.
Actually, Sequent, you don’t even have to eat garlic to smell of it. If you rub pressed garlic on your feet you’ll have garlic breath within an hour (go ahead kids, try this trick at home).
Cooks who handle garlic are warned to wash their hands in COLD water. If you wash with warm H2O the pores in your hands will open and absorb the stuff and you’ll become fragrant very shortly.
Let’s pause here and see where we are. People of one culture have been complaining about people of other cultures since the first group discovered there was another village over the hill. One of the complaints/hangups that pop up on a regular enough basis seems to be “And they smell funny, too.”
What is really said here? Those others don’t smell quite like you or me. Hygene might explain some of the complaints. Racism might explain some of it.
Different diets might explain some of it.
Notice that we’re not saying people who eat differently than us smell “bad.” They smell…different. It is human for us to equate a different or unfamiliar smell as “bad.”
I’m an American living in S. Korea, and I can tell you only of my experience…
I STINK! I confess, I am a big sweaty stinky white guy… when my fiancee (who is a non-stinky, very sexy Korean girl [did I mention that I am a very LUCKY big sweaty stinky white guy?]) comes over to my house early in the AM, I have to rush off to the shower with her chasing me with a can of air freshner!
Seriously, though… Koreans (possibly other Asians as well) don’t seem to have much BO! Unless, of course they have been eating a lot of garlic (as Koreans do) or drinking (as Koreans also tend to do, though often I am drinking with them, so it cancels out…). I teach at a university here, so I come into contact with lots of Koreans every day, and even in the summer (like now; it is hot as hell, and humid enough to swim up the hill to my office) they don’t smell!!
After I get to my office, my shirt is soaked (the univ. is at the top of a very steep, long hill) and I reek… have you ever seen a cartoon with wavy “smell lines” coming from something that smells bad? I actually radiate those lines! I make my own eyes water! I can’t stand my own smell! But my students, equally soaked with sweat, smell of nothing unless they are wearing perfume…
Now, is this diet? I don’t think so, Koreans eat lots of red meat, pork, and fish; as well as much more veggies than most westerners (including me)… so maybe it’s the veggies?
PS: I have a very hard time finding deodorant here, as virtually NO Koreans use it! I have to go to a “blackmarket” store near the US military base here to get it, and it is expensive!! But my fiancee thinks it is worthwhile (as do I)…
Injesting raw blood causes digestion problems, for some reason. Like if you have a cut in your mouth, or your nose is bleeding back into your throat, or you eat very rare meat (as a wild animal almost surely does).
I meant injecting
I don’t mean to sound disgusting, but this is sort of related. I have had two different boyfriends-one was a health-food fanatic and the other was a junk-food addict. When I gave them “oral pleasure” my junk eating boyfriend tasted sweet, while my vegetarian boyfriend tasted like dirty socks. I guess the Twinkies and Fruit Loops passed through his system.