Health is not always about being slim and trim and living a long life without diseases. Of course this is so very desired by all of us. But there is another important albeit often neglected aspect to good health - and this is personal hygiene. Body odor must be one of the greatest anti-social epidemics of our time, particularly if we are living in a place where temperatures and humidity levels reach soaring heights.
The unpleasantly distinctive and acrid pungent smell emanating from a human body cannot go unnoticed. The reason for this could be two-fold – bad personal hygiene or a specific medical problem.
Well, everyone sweats… because we have to. Sweating it out is the body’s biological way of getting rid of body heat. However, did you know that sweat itself does not have an odor? Yes, it does not but merely provides a culture medium for bacteria that are found on our skin normally. And the odor is produced when the sweat on our body is decomposed by the bacteria. This odor is actually a bye product of the metabolic process that occurs when bacteria break down the organic substances found on our skin, in our sweat or on our clothing.
All the bacteria found on our self are not necessarily bad. There are some good ones and some bad ones. It is the bad ones that cause this unpleasant smell - corynebacteria and micrococci.
A bad smell can sometimes be an indication of a medical condition. For example if you get a ‘beery’ smell from the body of a friend, it could perhaps mean that she is suffering from a yeast condition. Someone with the odor of a nail polish remover could be diabetic. A fishy odor brings the possibility of a metabolic disorder. And ammonia smell could indicate liver disease.
These are just possibilities. Body odor doesn’t always have to mean a disease.