Body odour: Causes, prevention and solutions

It is a generally believed lie that sweat causes body odour. Every age group sweats, but how is body odour formed? According to Cleveland Clinic, bacteria mixed with sweat equals body odour. In other words, it is produced when bacteria come in contact with sweat on your skin.  

What are the causes of BODY ODOUR?

1. Bacteria and sweat

Sweat is often seen as a prime suspect. However, contrary to this belief, sweat does not make your body smell. According to Cleveland clinic, bacteria lives on your skin, and it is when it blends with your sweat that it produces an unpleasant smell on your body.  

2. Stress

Stress-related sweats are the ones that smell the most. It was explained in a medically reviewed article by Debra Rose Wilson, a professor, researcher, and holistic healthcare practitioner that apocrine glands are found in parts of the body with higher follicles. For example, the armpit. They are larger and are the ones that often produce sweat that is related to stress.   

3. Your Diet

According to Jamie Elmer on Healthline , your diet can often cause your body to smell temporarily. Some foods can affect your urine or cause you to produce more gas.   

You must have heard the saying, “You are what you eat”. Body odour could emanate from the kind of food you eat and what you drink.   

Avoid caffeinated beverages, spicy food, onions, cabbage, garlic etc.   

4. Hormonal Changes

Hormonal changes, according to Cleveland Clinic can make your body smell. It is not out of place for the body to undergo hormonal changes. So, when you see that you’re sweating more often than you used to, that could be a hormonal change. Pregnancy, menopausal changes, and menstruation can also cause body odour.  

5. Being overweight

 Another point by Cleveland clinic says that being overweight causes body odour. People who are overweight are often more prone to body odour than people who are not. This is because they have literally, every part of their body bigger than people with moderate body size. And these parts sometimes accumulate and harbour sweat in excess.  

Preventing body odour

In an article  written by Jaime Herndon, and medically reviewed by Alana Biggers , the following are highlighted as things to be done in order to prevent body odour.  

1. Daily showers with soap

In order to get rid of body odour, you should take a shower regularly, and not occasionally. Take a shower in the morning, after exercise and workouts, or after a long day at work.   

2. Wear loose and comfortable clothes

As stated earlier, body odour is produced when sweat comes in contact with bacteria on your skin. So, you’d do well to avoid extremely tight clothes, as often as you can. They could press sweat against your skin which could cause body odour. Loose clothes, on the other hand, will allow free passage of air on the skin.  

3. Removing hair

Get rid of hair under your armpit, and other parts of your body that have hair. In this case, sweat would have no place to hide, and above all cleaning would be made pretty easy without interference.  

4. Keep stress in check

As stated earlier in the article, stress-induced sweat smell the most. So, you’ll do well to keep stress in check and avoid it as often as you can.   

Another preventive method, out of a few others, addressed by Adam Felman, and reviewed by Meghan Soliman, medical advisor and internal medicine physician is:  

5. The use of antiperspirant

The use of antiperspirant helps to regulate the intensity of body odour. It also makes adjustments to the activities of bacteria on the skin; bacteria that could cause odour if it comes in contact with sweat on the skin.  

Getting rid of body odour

  Below are treatments and home remedies by Mayo clinic .  

1. Use of antiperspirant and deodorant

Antiperspirant reduces the amount of sweat that comes in contact with your skin. The aluminium-based compounds help to achieve this by blocking sweat pores temporarily. The difference between deodorant and antiperspirant is that the former is used to increase the acidity of the skin to make it less prone to bacteria while the latter is used to regulate sweat.   

2. Bathe regularly with an antibacterial soap

This will help to reduce the growth of bacteria on your skin.  

3. Relaxation techniques like yoga and meditation will help you to control stress, and keep anxiety in check.

4. Eliminate certain foods from your diet

  Foods that contain caffeine or spicy foods. These foods, if included in your diet, can cause you to have body odour.  

5. Choice of clothing for different activities

For exercise – wear synthetic fabrics. They will help to absorb sweat from your skin.   

For day-to-day activities – loose clothing or cotton, wool, and silk fabrics, to allow air on your skin.   

  However, remember that sweat doesn’t cause body odour. It is the bacteria on your skin that makes the difference.   

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