Body odor
From Freepedia
Body odor, Bromhidrosis or body odour is the smell of bacteria growing on the body. These bacteria multiply considerably in the presence of sweat, but sweat itself is almost totally odorless. Body odor is associated with the hair, skin, breasts, armpits and genitals.
Body odor is specific to the individual (except for identical twins in the same environment) and can be used to identify people, though this is more often done by dogs than by humans. An individual's bodily odor is also influenced by diet, gender, genetics, health, medication, occupation, and mood. 17th century Japanese encountering Europeans for the first time found their odor particularly strong, and blamed it on the butter Europeans ate. The term bata-kusai (roughly meaning "butter reekers") was soon used to describe Europeans and still connotes anyone obviously Western. [1]
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Social history
In the period of 1910-1920, the American advertising industry concluded that anxious, discontented consumers were better customers than satisfied ones. They initiated the now-familiar strategy of advertisements intended to foster anxiety about social status, and concern about personal deficiencies that could be remedied by buying the advertised product. In 1919, Odo-Ro-No became the first company to use the term "B.O." in an advertisement.
Many humans find the odor of Corynebacterium tenuis and C. xerosis in the apocrine sweat of the underarms offensive, so they use antiperspirants or deodorants. Antiperspirants stop the sweat, while deodorants kill or inhibit the bacteria. Although some choose to use an antiperspirant or deodorant because they view the smell offensive, others encourage perspiration and refrain from using antiperspirants, because they view it as a natural bodily reaction.
Genetics
Body odor is influenced by the major histocompatibility complex molecules. These are genetically determined and play an important role in immunity of the organism. The vomeronasal organ contains cells sensitive to MHC molecules in a genotype-specific way. Experiments on animals and volunteers shown the potential sexual partners tend to be perceived more attractive if their MHC composition is substantially different. This behavior pattern promotes variability of the immune system of individuals in the population, thus making the population more robust against new diseases.
See also
External link
- The Scientist - Immunity, smell linked, November 2004
