Food and body odor

Q&ACategory: QuestionsFood and body odor
Anonymous asked 9 years ago
I have always been very smelly. I also am unable to use commercial deoderant because it irritates my skin to the point of painful boils. Even natural / homemade deodorants with baking soda irritate my skin too much. For some health reasons, I had to radically change my diet (basically I went paleo). I noticed that my smell changed dramatically and I sweat much less! Now I do not wear deodorant on a regular basis, which for casual interaction is generally fine (I think?), unless I eat something that is not longer within my diet. However, there is still some light smell that remains even after washing. I also found that coffee / caffeine was the WORST offender for my body odor. I also suspect based on the things I've had to cut out that dietary nickel may be the component of my restricted foods that exacerbates the odor.
1 Answers
drarmpit answered 9 years ago
Hey, it is known that caffeine dilates the blood vessels and makes you sweat more. Sweating more can lead towards more body odor. Also spicy food, large meals, and other things can lead towards more sweat production. As such, the food that you eat definitely has an impact on body odor production. Nonetheless, changing your nutrition pattern will not considerably alter your underarm microbiome. You will sweat less, but the bacteria will still be present and still cause -although lower amounts of- body odor. Best, Chris