14 DAY TRIAL // Hopefully not all that often, we all find ourselves emanating not-so-pleasant body odors. This mostly happens at the end of a day of hard work or after an intense training session.
In a new study, researchers at the University of York detail how and why we humans produce nasty body odors. Spoiler alert: it's not our fault, but that of very specific bacteria living on our skin.
How bacteria on our skin make us smell bad
Admittedly, the fact that it's bacteria living on our skin that make us smell bad when they feast on compounds in our sweat is not exactly breaking news. Scientists have known this for years.
What the University of York researchers bring new to the table is a more detailed account of what happens on our skin that makes us smell bad, sometimes even if we remember to wear deodorant.
As part of this investigation, the researchers collected a total of 150 individual bacteria from the skin under the arms of several volunteers. They then studied the behavior of these microorganisms.
Of the species analyzed, one in particular, i.e. Staphylococcus hominis, was found to produce a set of enzymes that, when breaking down sweat, cause the formation of pungent compounds dubbed thioalcohols.
The genes allowing Staphylococcus hominis to produce these enzymes that cause nasty odors when breaking down sweat were also documented in two other Staphylococcus species.
Like their sibling, these other species also trigger the formation of bad-smelling compounds when feeding, the University of York specialists explain in the report detailing their work.
The outcome of this research indicates that, contrary to what some might think, it's not all of the bacteria living on our skin that need be blamed for foul body odors. Instead, just a select few are responsible.
“It was surprising that this particular body odour pathway is governed by only a small number of the many bacterial species residing in the underarm,” said researcher Dan Bawdon, as cited by Science Daily.
Paving the way for more effective deodorants
Unlike antiperspirants, designed to block or at least limit the production of sweat, deodorants work by killing bacteria living on our skin. The idea is that, with the bacteria gone, sweat will no longer turn nasty.
Having discovered that it's just a few bacteria that cause foul odors by breaking down sweat, the scientists imagine developing a new generation of more effective deodorants that chiefly target these species.
“We have opened up the possibility of inhibiting body odour formation using compounds designed to target the specific proteins controlling the release of malodorants,” explained Dan Bawdon.