When the sweat from your glands meets the bacteria on your skin, it breaks down into products called thioalcohols. The thioalcohols give off a strong, often sulfurous scent that can also be comparable to onions or meat. Genetics plays a role in how many thioalcohols your body produces.
Foods such as garlic, onions, cumin, and curry can also cause changes in body odor. The sulfur-like compounds that the body releases as it breaks down these foods can react with the sweat on the skin, producing body odor that may be different than a person's natural scent.
Two classic culprits for sweat induced stink are garlic & onions. Roasted garlic is delicious, but can be awfully strong. As a good source of potassium, folates, vitamins and minerals, you really don't want to lose alliums from your diet.
Onions, garlic, spices, and vinegar are among the foods that can change the smell of sweat. Sweat can combine with vaginal discharge to make the vagina smell of strong foods, such as onions or garlic. A person would generally have to eat more onion than usual for it to affect their body odor.
A person living with a health condition such as diabetes or kidney disease may also have sweat that smells like ammonia.
If your vagina has an unusually strong and unpleasant smell, like onions, for long, it may be a sign of an infection like bacterial vaginosis, which is bacterial overgrowth in the vagina. In this case, you will have a strong and unpleasant smell down there and also feel itchy and pain.
In women, hormone levels change throughout the menstrual cycle, throughout pregnancy, during postpartum, or as a result of using medication with hormonal side effects. All of these changes can contribute to the intensity and pleasantness of body odor and there may be a link between our scent and attraction (5).
Description. Trimethylaminuria is a disorder in which the body is unable to break down trimethylamine, a chemical compound that has a pungent odor. Trimethylamine has been described as smelling like rotten or decaying fish.
Some medical conditions can cause a change in body odor, including: Liver disease. Diabetes. Kidney disease.
By the end of the study, researchers concluded that men who removed their armpit hair by waxing it off or shaving it with a razor had the least body odor. Those who simply trimmed their armpit hair had the next smelliest, with the strongest armpit odors coming from those who left their pit hair untamed.
If sweating is excessive, it can cause smelly armpits even if a person washes regularly and uses deodorant or antiperspirant.
Both white vinegar and Apple Cider Vinegar or ACV are acidic in nature and have antimicrobial properties. It neutralises the environment in the underarm area and destroys the bacteria. It also works by lowering the pH of the underarm area and unclogs the pores of your skin.
Stinking Breath and Body Odor
Similarly, water helps release toxins through sweat. If your body is dehydrated, you are unable to release these toxins (bacteria), which when accumulated leads to an unpleasant body odor, especially in the armpits, feet, and groin area.
During menopause, your hormonal balance shifts. This shift can also lead to stronger body odor. Estrogen and progesterone levels fall relative to your testosterone, while cortisol tends to increase. Higher levels of both testosterone and cortisol have been linked to stronger body odor.
The menopausal drop in estrogen also leaves our bodies with relatively higher levels of testosterone — produced by our ovaries in small amounts — than before. This can attract more bacteria to sweat, making it smell funkier.
Individuals with certain medical conditions are more susceptible to having body odour. These can include diabetes, urinary tract infections, an overactive thyroid, kidney and liver dysfunction and a genetic disorder called trimethylaminuria.
It turns out that when this sulfur compound is mixed with bacteria under the arm, it creates a chemical called thiol — and this chemical is known for smelling like onions.
Bacteria love sweets, so eating too much sugar can cause an overgrowth of yeast on your skin, which in turn converts those sugars into alcohols that cause you to smell anything but sweet, according to Edward Group, a certified clinical nutritionist.
Some people with diabetes compare the smell of insulin to the scent of Band-Aids, printer ink, Lysol, or new plastic shower curtain liners (4). Apparently, phenols are responsible for the aroma associated with insulin (5).
Uncontrolled Diabetes - High levels of blood glucose can increase body odor. Diabetic ketoacidosis is a serious condition in which your body lacks insulin, depriving cells of the sugar they need for energy.