BODY ODOR AND SEX APPEAL
“Besides physical beauty, skin bacteria induced distinct body odor, plays an important role in sex appeal.”
As I see it, there are two common misconceptions about body odor. The first one is thatbad breath (Halitosis) is a part of body odor. The second one is that perspiration causes body odor. Both are incorrect. Halitosis is a sign of disease that could involve an oral cavity, the respiratory or gastrointestinal tract and should be investigated by your doctor.
On the other hand, perspiration is an odorless body fluid that is secreted by the sweat glands to regulate elevated body temperature by evaporation. Sweating occurs when core body temperature rises above a certain level, as seen during strenuous physical exercise, in very hot weather or when developing an infectious disease. Sweating due to these conditions is diffuse and watery and involves the entire body. It contains some electrolytes, minimal proteins and micronutrients such as short chain fatty acids (SCFA). Body odor is produced not by sweat but by harmless bacteria that live on our skin called “skin microbiota”. They feed on odorless perspiration fluid. Bacterial metabolism produces some volatile aromatic molecules, as by product of their metabolism. This is the cause of body odor.
Sometimes different types of perspirations occur, as seen in stressful life situations, strong emotional states or sexual arousal, without elevated body temperature. This is called “apocrine perspiration.” This type of perspiration mostly occurs in the hairy parts of the body such as the face, armpits and pubic region. This type of perspiration is more concentrated and in a small amount, it contains more electrolytes, nutrients and trace amount of sexual hormones. Skin bacteria that feed on this sweat produce different aromatic molecules that could be perceived as sensual odors.
Many scientific studies have been conducted about the psychological effects of body odors. One of my favorite study is a European study where a group of young women were asked to smell the under arms of under shirts of a group on young men and to characterize the smell. Some of the smells were found to be repulsive while some were found to be rather pleasant and attractive. When the armpits bacterial cultures were compared, distinct similarities were found between young women and young men that emitted rather pleasant odors.
This means that besides the physical beauty of a person, skin bacteria produced distinct odor plays a significant role in sex appeal. This distinct body odor is much more effective than very expensive perfumes and colognes.
In the animal kingdom, besides bacteria induced body odor there are special scent producing glands that excrete Pheromones. Pheromones act like sex hormones outside of the body. Pheromones affect the physiology and the behavior of the animal species. There are different kind of pheromones, like alarms pheromones, food trail pheromones and sex pheromones. Some of them are excreted in the urine by animals that mark their territories, declare their sexual readiness or attract sex partners.
In spite of commercial marketing efforts, scientific studies have shown that humans do not produce pheromones.
