Al-Amn Magazine

this keep coming up with different findings. In the 1950s, research seemed to suggest that fewer than 50% of people produce the tell-tale asparagus pee odour, while in 2010, researchers found more than 90% of test participants did. So it’s not clear cut. And not everybody can perceive the stink: the ability to smell one’s pungent asparagus-smelling pee seems to be down to genetics too. However, when it comes to fruit and vegetables more widely, eating more of them can lead to a more attractive scent. A 2017 study in Australia found that men who had consumed more fruit and vegetables were significantly associated with smelling better – more fruity, floral and sweet.  The study also notes, interestingly, when people have to rate people’s faces, slightly yellower skin rich in carotenoid – a molecule from carrots, pumpkins, tomatoes and papayas and others – is also found to be more attractive. But the same study suggests that people consuming diets with a little bit of fat, meat, egg, and tofu intake were also associated with more pleasant-smelling sweat. Carb-heavy diets produced the least sexy of scents.  Meat and fish Meat and fish can also produce a distinct body odour as animal proteins are broken down by the body into amino acids and fats, which are then excreted through sweat – where they interact with skin bacteria. Fish and beans, for instance, can cause body odour because they’re filled with trimethylamine, a very strong- smelling compound. There’s even a health condition, called trimethylaminuria – also known as “fish odour syndrome” – which arises when the body can’t turn trimethylamine into a non-smelly compound, says Beeson. “This can lead to a strong body odour,” she says, but this condition is quite rare. For instance, a 2025 case report recounts a 10-month-old boy who developed trimethylaminuria and began smelling like rotting fish after eating fish including swordfish. The condition was transient, and through careful management he was eventually able to eat fish without the symptoms reoccurring. Another study of adult men from 2006 by Havlí č ek’s Alcohol and coffee Alcohol – especially consumed in large amounts and at regular intervals, says Begdache – can cause bad smell both from the gastrointestinal tract and from the sweat glands. When your body processes alcohol by breaking it down inside the liver, it releases a compound called acetaldehyde, a toxic and volatile compound, which has a strong, recognisable scent of stale booze. (One study showed police officers could tell if people had drunk just from their mouth odour between 60 and 85% of the time, depending on how much they had had.) And since alcohol makes you dehydrated and reduces your saliva flow, it allows for more bacteria to hang around in your mouth, causing bad breath to persist.  One study noticed, for instance, noted that out of 235 people the people who consumed alcohol daily were most likely to complain about bad breath, and have higher concentrations of volatile sulphur compounds in their breath. Another study from 2010 studied men who drank beer during an experiment and those who drank water instead. They found that the beer-drinkers were more attractive – but sadly only to mosquitoes. Caffeine found in coffee and tea, meanwhile, can stimulate the apocrine glands, which are responsible for producing sweat in areas like the armpits and groin. This increased sweat production can create a more favourable environment for bacteria to thrive, potentially leading to stronger body odour, says Beeson. Plus, one study showed that caffeine molecules can be found all the way in sweat too – but there’s no data about whether the caffeine itself affects body odour. Beer-drinkers were more attractive – but sadly only to mosquitoes “We are mammals, and like all mammals, odour almost certainly has an important influence on social interaction,” says Roberts, who studies scent and social interactions. Scent is just one of a vast range of factors that influence how attractive people find us. It’s extremely challenging, “if not impossible”, to isolate the effects of smell from these other social cues, such as how people look, behave and talk, says Roberts.  But still, even the science meticulously measuring these ethereal, subtle changes has been coming up with contrasting findings. For instance, Havlí č ek also did an experiment where men rated women on their armpit sweat pad’s scent for their pleasantness, attractiveness, femininity and intensity, after some women ate as normal, and others fasted for 48 hours. While there wasn’t a huge divide between the groups, the fasting women did have more attractive sweat than the women who didn’t. “This was again something we didn’t expect,” says Havlí č ek. But these results would need to be replicated to help paint a clearer picture. And, while your sweat may smell better, one 2018 study in Switzerland found found that fasting made people’s breath smell worse.  If anything, the constant surprise arising from their study results has led researchers like Roberts and Havlí č ek to realise that there’s no one clear formula for how food affects our body odour and perception. There’s a lot of variability. “There are plenty of aromatic compounds, and in most of them we don’t know how they influence our body odour, but there is a high probability they do,” says Havlí č ek.  bbc.com