Garlic, alcohol, meat and even fasting can affect our body odour – and alter how appealing our scent is to others.
Each one of us has a unique scent profile, like a fingerprint. Everything from our personality type – such as extroversion, dominance and neuroticism – to our mood and health affects the way we smell.
"The past few decades have revealed that odour is shaped by our genes, hormones, health, and hygiene," says Craig Roberts, professor of social psychology at University of Stirling in Scotland. "Whether we are male or female, young or old, gay or straight, dominant or subordinate, ovulating or pregnant, sick or well, happy or sad."
Many of these factors are out of our control – but not all. A significant influence on the way we smell is the food we eat. Not only does this affect our overall aroma, but also how we are perceived, including how attractive we appear to others, according to a small but growing body of research.
Breath and sweat
On a biological level, food affects our body odour by two main routes, says Lina Begdache, an assistant professor of health and wellness studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Those are our guts and our skin.
First, the gut. As you digest your food, bacteria are at work metabolising it inside your gut. Some of those interactions between food chemicals and bacteria release gases – volatile molecules that make it out of your body the same way the food went in, says Begdache. This can result in bad breath, or halitosis, especially depending on what you eat (more about this later). Data suggests that about one-third of adults worldwide suffer from some form of halitosis, though there are other causes besides digestion.
