Researchers identified a gene that alters the shape of a channel that controls the flow of molecules that directly affect earwax type. They found that many East Asians have a mutation in this gene that prevents cerumen, the molecule that makes earwax wet, from entering the mix.
Dry earwax is very common (80–95 per cent of the population) among east Asians, but is less frequent (30–50 per cent) in southern Asia, the Pacific Islands, central Asia and Asia Minor, and in native North Americans and Inuit peoples of Asian ancestry. It's very uncommon among Europeans and Africans (0–3 per cent).
Nearly everyone of African descent and most people of European descent have the yellow-brown, sticky kind, called wet earwax; the dry, pale, crumbly kind prevails in East Asia; in between, in Central and South Asia, both types are common.
Earwax comes in two types, wet and dry. The wet form predominates in Africa and Europe, where 97 percent or more of the people have it, and the dry form among East Asians, while populations of Southern and Central Asia are roughly half and half.
The earwax from the study's East Asian donors was "consistently drier and colorless." The samples of the white donors were "yellow and sticky in nature." Also mentioned in the study: "Africans" have "wet, yellowish-brown wax," and Native Americans — similar to East Asian folks — typically have "dry, white wax."
It's wet, brown and gummy in nearly all people of European and African origin; but more than 80% of East Asians have a dry variety that lacks a waxy substance called cerumen. A team of Japanese researchers has now tackled this sticky subject and identified the gene that determines earwax type.
Most of the world's population has the gene that codes for the wet-type earwax and average body odor; however, East Asians are more likely to inherit the allele associated with the dry-type earwax and a reduction in body odor.
In contrast, about 97% to 100% of people with European and African ancestry have the smelly-armpit version of the gene, and therefore stickier and smellier earwax. Thirty to fifty percent of South Asians, Central Asians, and Pacific Islanders have the dry type of earwax.
So East Asians and Native Americans both seem to have different sweat gland production from the sexually mature regions at puberty (apocrine glands). They also produce dry earwax.
While cotton swabs are the norm in the West, in many parts of East Asia, it's common to use ear scoops – a long, thin tool with one tip flattened into a little spoon – to tease out excess ear wax.
The composition of earwax is determined by human genetics and varies depending on your ethnicity. Wet earwax has a lot more lipids, which make it thick and sticky. It is most common in people of European and African descent. Dry earwax is flaky and is most common in Eastern Asian populations.
The type of earwax you have doesn't really say anything about your ears. “Whether it's wet or dry and even the color...has no implication for the ear health of the person,” Nina Shapiro, M.D., otolaryngologist at UCLA Health, tells SELF. Instead, the type of earwax you have comes down in part to your skin type, Dr.
Earwax is a combination of skin cells that slough off your ear canal and secretions from your ceruminous and the sebaceous glands. As skin cells are shed, they mix with these secretions to produce earwax. The wetness that you feel in your ear is mostly the secretions from the glands in your ear that help form earwax.
Wet/dry types of earwax are determined by the c. 538G>A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the ABCC11 gene; GA and GG genotypes give the wet type and AA the dry type. The Japanese population may have a dual structure comprising descendants of mixtures between the ancient 'Jomon' and 'Yayoi' populations.
There are two primary types of earwax—wet and dry: Wet cerumen is more common in Caucasians and Africans. Dry cerumen is more common among Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and Asians.
The genetic link
People who have 1 or 2 copies of the C variant in the ABCC11 gene have more fat in their earwax, making it wet and sticky. People who have two copies of the T variant have less fat in their earwax, making it dry, light-colored, and flaky.
Today, 80 to 95 percent of East Asians have dry earwax, whereas the wet variety is abundant in people of African and European ancestry (97 to 100 percent).
The dry form was detected almost universally in tests of northern Han Chinese and Koreans and is quite common in Native Americans. The researchers also found that earwax type and armpit odor are correlated. Populations with dry earwax tend to sweat less and have little or no body odor.
The lucky "dry earwax" people don't produce the protein, so they don't make the apocrine underarm sweat that attracts bacteria (it's worth noting we produce two types of sweat, the other being body-wide ecrine sweat, salty water, which isn't affected by this gene).
Earwax: Earwax may have an odor due to a chemical in it that repels insects. Some people have more of this chemical in their wax than others. Dead skin cells and bacteria in the wax may also cause a smell. Cancer of the Ear: This is rare but may cause a bad odor to come from the ear.
While not all these bodily substances provide ideal DNA samples, testable DNA can often be extracted from all of them. In every case, what is being tested is the DNA contained in cells of human tissue, whether found on their own or carried by another substance, like earwax, sweat or mucus.
Anyone who's accidentally tasted ear wax knows it has an awful, sour flavor. Otolaryngologist Dr. Seth Schwartz told INSIDER that ear wax tends to be acidic. We know acidic foods also taste sour, so ear wax's distinct flavor makes sense.
For example, a major contributor to axillary odor, E-3M2H, was significantly higher in African-Americans when compared to Caucasians. In addition, there were significant differences across donor groups in the number of individuals who produced detectable levels of 3H3M, with African-American > Caucasian > East Asian.
Although there is some controversy on the subject of "racial" variation in body odor, it is determined that African blacks probably produce the greatest amount of apocrine sweat, which is the known substrate for axillary odor.
But cultural differences and simple biology — scientists have shown that many East Asian people don't have Westerners' body odor issues — scotched those plans.