Understanding Body Odor: Causes, Treatments, & Prevention

Body odor can be caused by a variety of factors, including hormones, diet, and lifestyle. Learn how to identify the cause of your body odor and how to treat it with home remedies or medical treatments. Discover preventative tips for reducing body odor.

Body odor is a common issue known to affect the quality of life of the affected person. It is not uncommon for men and women to feel embarrassed about body odor. It can not just make them feel anxious about meeting people and even lower their self-confidence and self-esteem. 

Most people prefer to use perfumes and deodorants to avoid body odor. However, perfumes and deodorants can only mask body odor and not eliminate it. The long-lasting and more effective strategy to avoid body odor would be to find why it occurs and eliminates its root causes. 

Here is a brief discussion about the common causes of body odor and the best natural way to avoid it. 

What is Body Odor?

Body odor refers to the natural smell originating from a person. However, the term is more commonly used to refer to the ‘bad’ odor coming from a person that is believed to be due to excessive sweating. 

However, excessive sweating is not always the primary cause of body odor. It usually occurs when the bacteria on the skin break down certain protein molecules in sweat, producing an odor in the process.

What makes body odor a particularly embarrassing symptom is it is often considered to be a sign of lack of personal hygiene. However, in most cases, body odor occurs due to the presence of a more serious underlying condition affecting the vital organs such as the skin or kidneys. [1]

For example; body odor that becomes more evident at puberty could be due to the fluctuations in the levels of hormones due to which the sweat glands in the skin become more active during this phase. Some patients with obesity and diabetes are also more prone to have body odor. [2]

Body odor is likely to occur in some specific parts of the body such as: 

• Armpits

• Scalp 

• Feet 

• Groin

• Bellybutton

• Behind the ears

• Pubic region

References:

1. Tze Hau Lam, Davide Verzotto, Purbita Brahma, Amanda Hui Qi Ng, Ping Hu, Dan Schnell, Jay Tiesman, Rong Kong, Thi My Uyen Ton, Jianjun Li, May Ong, Yang Lu, David Swaile, Ping Liu, Jiquan Liu, and Niranjan Nagarajan, Understanding the microbial basis of body odor in pre-pubescent children and teenagers,2018 November doi: 10.1186/s40168-018-0588-z, PMCID: PMC6267001, PMID: 30497517
2. Tze Hau Lam, Davide Verzotto, Purbita Brahma, Amanda Hui Qi Ng, Ping Hu, Dan Schnell, Jay Tiesman, Rong Kong, Thi My Uyen Ton, Jianjun Li, May Ong, Yang Lu, David Swaile, Ping Liu, Jiquan Liu, and Niranjan Nagarajan, Understanding the microbial basis of body odor in pre-pubescent children and teenagers,2018 November doi: 10.1186/s40168-018-0588-z, PMCID: PMC6267001, PMID: 30497517