54: How Diet Impacts Your Body Odor!

Intro:

Pay attention to what you eat and remove those foods that you know make you smell poorly. When I eat predominantly meat, and especially when I eat only meat, I do not smell. And bacteria is incredibly important for your immune system, for your overall health. And he's like, but I need it. If I don't use deodorant, if I don't reapply it several times, I smell really badly.

And I'm like, well, let's do the following. I'm going to engage in an experiment with you, you know, well, actually my wife did, and he and I said we all stopped using deodorant, you know, as of today. And we'll see how we smell over the next couple of days. What you eat is the most likely factor that contributes to bad body odor....

I'm your host Michael Kummer and my goal is to help you achieve optimal health by bridging and the demands of modern society. Get ready to unlock the transformative power of nature as the ultimate biohack, revolutionizing your health and reconnecting you with your primal self.

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Michael Kummer: A lot of people suffer from bad body odor.

And so in this episode, we're gonna talk about the biological mechanisms behind body odor, including the role of the sweat glands, the bacteria on the skin, And how they interact to produce odor. We're going to talk about the top reasons that influence or the top factors that influence body odor and hint it's not their personal hygiene.

We're going to talk, talk about how to stop smelling without the use of toxic personal care products. And I'm going to share with you my favorite deodorant that I barely use. So let's jump right in and let's talk about the production of sweat. So there are two main types of sweat glands on the human body.

The eccrine glands that are found all over the body and they produce a fairly watery odorless sweat that helps regulate body temperature. So when you work out and you sweat a lot, the eccrine cells are responsible for regulating The second type are called epicrine glands and they are concentrated around your, you know, armpits, around your nipples and your groin.

And they secrete a thicker milky fluid in response to emotional stress. and sexual excitement. And the fluid itself is initially odorless, but it's very rich in proteins and lipids that bacteria interact with to produce odor. So it's very much the interaction between the bacteria on your skin. And it's, you know, obviously we all have a microbiome on our skin, much like we have a microbiome in our gut consisting of bacteria and other microorganisms that work together to maintain proper skin barrier.

and skin health at the end of the day that influence the immune system and many other things. So it's perfectly normal to have all of the bacteria, but there are certain, uh, a certain composition of the bacteria that can influence then how those bacteria break down and metabolize those lipids and those proteins in your sweat and produce odor.

And in particular, the proteins that the lipids from the epocrine sweat. are metabolized by the skin bacteria broken down into smaller compounds and like fatty acids and ammonia. And that's what smells. So let's talk about now the chemical compounds responsible for odor. I mean, there are many of them, but there are, I guess, three main types that are most likely to produce the smell that you're experiencing.

And number one is androstenone. It's a steroid that is converted from testosterone in the epicrine glands and that can produce a strong musky odor. So I guess that's the, you know, the manly odor that you might be familiar with. And, you know, a lot of people like that. Some people don't, but I would argue That's probably a perfectly natural type of smell that you might experience.

The second compound is called isovaleric acid, and that's produced by bacteria from the breakdown of the amino acid leucine, and that has more like a pungent cheese like smell, which might be more offending. And number three is a compound called 3 methyl 2 hexanoic acid, and it is also a breakdown product of bacterial metabolism and has a distinct.

Sweaty order, which is more or less offending, but I would argue it's probably more on the less offending side. Now, so let's talk about components or what factors influence that bacterial activity. And there are several again. Uh, hormonal changes, you know, if you go through puberty or menopause, you know, those changes in your Hormones can influence bacterial activity and how they contribute to body odor genetics.

Obviously, you know, everyone is a little bit different, but the number one factor I would argue is diet. You know, the foods you eat influence the bacterial activity, not only the bacterial composition in your gut, as well as in your skin and in your mouth, you know, everywhere where there is a. Microbiome, but it also influences a bacterial activity and how much of that leads to potentially poor or offending body odor.

For example, most people know that if you consume a lot of garlic or onions, that can add sulfur compounds to sweat. And when the bacteria metabolizes those compounds, it leads to a pretty pungent smell, right? Some also argue that meat can produce offending odors. We'll talk about that separately, but the bottom line really is what you eat is the most likely factor that contributes to bad body odor.

And I'm going to give you one example from a couple of years ago when my brother in law came over. You know, he wanted to, I guess, go through the Kummer bootcamp, you know, assume our dietary habits, you know, work out with us, do CrossFit, cold plunge, sauna bath, you know, do all of the things that we do on a regular basis to kind of, you know, help him reset, get in a better shape and, and get rid of some of the issues like his acne and, you know, his bad body odor.

You know, and when he arrived, you know, he came with this, you know, I guess drugstore, you know, deodorant. And I'm like, dude, you know, this is chemical crap. You don't want to use this. You know, it has endocrine disrupting chemicals that can negatively influence your endocrine system, meaning your hormones, especially, you know, your testosterone.

You definitely don't want that. So throw it in the trash. And you're like, but I need it. If I don't use deodorant, if I don't reapply it several times, I smell really badly and I'm like, well, let's do the following, like I'm going to. I'm going to, uh, engage in an experiment with you, you know, well, actually my wife did, and he and I, we said, we all stopped using deodorant, you know, as of today, and we see how we smell over the next couple of days.

And so we did this and then in a few, in a couple of days later, I asked him, so, you know, how do you smell? And he's like, you know, I haven't really noticed. And he did like, you know, this plastic, you know, smelling your own armpit kind of test and like, I don't smell anymore. And I'm like, well, what do you think has changed?

And he's like, well, I guess. The diet, they're eating predominantly meat, you know, very few vegetables, no chunk food, obviously no processed foods, you know, nothing that, you know, is not part of our regular diet. I mean, we follow an animal based diet. So it's very heavy in, in meat and select non toxic or the least toxic plants.

And he stopped smelling. And for the rest of his trip, he stayed with us for a couple of weeks. Uh, none of us use the deodorant. We worked out almost every day, you know, doing CrossFit. We were out working in the backyard, in the garden, you know, we sweated a lot and nobody smelled. And that was an eye opener for him.

I already knew, you know, what would happen, but that was an eye opener for him recognizing that the food we eat directly impacts how we smell. And if we have a very poor or offending body odor, it's usually, uh, the reason for that is usually twofold. One is. The food we eat, obviously, you know, if we eat certain, and especially in the plant world, I have yet to meet anyone who eats predominantly meat or is a carnivore with bad body odor, you know, myself included, if I only eat meat, I do not smell, you know, yes, maybe my dog can smell me because he, his nose works a thousand times better than, you know, human nose, there is nothing offending about how I smell when I eat only meat, when I cut out Everything else in particular plans, but also dairy, I would say probably leads in my case to a, you know, more musky kind of.

You know, odor when I consume, uh, raw milk. Um, but definitely if I'm going into starches, into grains and stuff, I, I smell, you know, and I can tell. And number two is the bacterial composition of your skin. Obviously, you know, it's the same as if you, when you fart and you smell like something died inside of you, you know, that's typically a sign.

of the poor food choices and the, the poor big bacterial composition inside of your gut. And the same applies to the skin. You know, if your skin is made up of too many, too many of the wrong type of bacteria, You are more likely to smell because that bacteria then produce certain odors, you know, they metabolize certain components from the food you eat and you smell and if that's offending, then you've got to change something about that.

And the easiest way to change the, the composition of the bacteria, both in your gut as well as in your skin is with diet, because if you remove those foods that the bacteria thrive on, they die off naturally. Or at least they're, they're the amount of that bacteria significantly shrinks. And some of the better bacteria move in, take their place that, you know, don't produce those offending odors.

And so that's one thing. And one word argues, well, if you, you know, I read a while ago, an article about body odor and the number one recommendation was to, well, you know, wash yourself more often, especially with, with antibacterial soap, you know, to kill off the bacteria that produces the odor and that's akin to, you know, You know, regularly consuming antibiotics to kill the bad bacteria in your gut.

No, you don't want to do this because that not only wipes out the bad bacteria, but also the good bacteria. And bacteria is incredibly important for your immune system, for overall health, and on the skin, for your skin barrier function. You don't want to wipe off all the bacteria. And using antibacterial soap does exactly that.

It negatively impacts your, your skin's microbiome. Which is why I don't use soap on my entire body every single day. I don't want to kill all of that good bacteria with soap. Obviously I don't use antibacterial soap, but just regular soap as well. You know, you want to use that sparingly. Obviously I use it to wash my hands, you know, if I'm out with the animals or whatever, but you know, you, you want to be careful with that, you know, wiping everything off and, and sterilizing it.

is not the best way, it's a terrible way of trying to fix, you know, your, your skin's bacterial composition. So you don't want to do this. And generally speaking, hygiene, even if you, if you don't, you eat well, if the bacterial composition on your skin is where it should be, even if you don't shower in a day, or in two days, or in three days, you should not be smelling poorly, you know?

I, I know when I'm out camping or whatever, or out somewhere, you know, hunting, whatever the case might be, and I don't shower, I don't smell, you know, if I eat well, that is. Now let's talk about meat for a moment, because very often, if you, especially if you Google, okay, what causes bad body, uh, body odor, you know, eating meat is a very popular reason that you might find.

And the reason or the reasoning behind that is. That meat and especially organs and a delivery in particular contain certain micronutrients that can, that can potentially cause body odor. One of them is choline. You know, it's a water soluble nutrient that's abundantly found in meat and deliver and other organs in particular.

And it's incredibly important in order to have enough choline, but when digested, choline can be converted into what's called TMA or trimethylamine. And. By the bacteria in your gut. Right. So Triethylamine is an oxidized in the liver to form trimethylamine and oxide or TMAO. And, but this process is fairly inefficient.

And so when TMA accumulates, it can be excreted through sweat, urine, and the breath, and that produces a. Somewhat fishy smell. Carnitin is another great example of the same, you know, the same phenomenon. You know, it's also similar to coline, the gut bacteria metabolize it to TMA. And that can then, you know, accumulate and lead to a fishy odor when excreted through, you know, your sweat, for example, there are also other fatty acids, for example, in meat that can lead as part of the metabolism to volatile compounds that can then once metabolized.

And be, and excreted through sweat glands, become food for the bacteria, and that again can lead to body odor. There are also certain amino acids, we mentioned leucine already, but also methionine. Um, has sulfur in it, so when that gets metabolized, that sulfur like smell, you know, can be noticeable. Now here's the thing, all of that, I'm sure is theoretically correct, but as I've mentioned before, I have yet to meet a strict carnivore, within, you know, the human population that is, that has poor body odor, or that smells, that I've noticed.

When I eat predominantly meat, and especially when I eat only meat, I do not smell. You know, same goes for my wife. We, everyone within the family, we've all noticed that by eating only a permanently meat, We don't smell as soon as we start including in particular plant based product, but also certain dairy products, we are more likely to smell and have a noticeable body odor, and then maybe need to use the odor, but with meat only, I think that if you smell poorly, when you, after consuming meat, especially only meat, then I would argue that's an indication of a less than ideal body odor.

Composition of your skin's microbiome? I don't have any other explanation for that because as I said, you know, uh, I've stood very closely to a Sean Baker, for example. I've never noticed them smell, you know, and, and that's one of the reasons because we have, or we consume an animal based diet and we eat a lot of meat and predominantly meat that we barely use.

Deodorant. I barely use it. I use, I have one stick, and that lasts me for probably half a year to a year because I use it so infrequently. And that's because I usually don't smell unless I eat certain foods and then I have to use deodorant. That leads us to what's my favorite deodorant brands, you know, and there is one, there are multiple out there, but the one that I like best is from a brand called nose to tail.

Uh, Brian Sanders, one of my friends, is, has, it's his brand, and he makes personal care products made based on beef tallow, and the deodorant stick is also made with beef tallow and I think baking soda to change the pH a little bit, and I've been using that, again, infrequently, but nonetheless, whenever I You know, go to a conference, for example, and I know that I might be exposed to foods, maybe because of a social gathering that I don't have full control over, you know, food that, you know, I know might cause me to, to produce body odor.

So I bring that with me and I use it and it's very effective. It doesn't stain clothing because some of the non toxic. Uh, deodorants that I've used in the past, they lead to yellow stains in my clothing, and then, you know, I had to throw away, you know, the shirt after a couple of uses, and that's obviously not sustainable.

With the Beef Teller one and the Baking Soda, from nose to tail, I have not noticed those issues. I have a discount code for you, I'm gonna link it down below in the show notes, code MK for 20 off for your first order, over 75. Including a link, but it's nose to tail, Brian Sanders, great product. Uh, they've other stuff as well that I use like a, you know, a face lotion and stuff.

So all good stuff, high quality, non toxic. Um, I would highly recommend if you suffer from bad body, bad body odor that you, uh, Stop using drugstore type deodorants and even worse, antirespirants, because there is only one way to stop you from Sweating in the first place and those are toxins, you know, endocrine disrupting, toxic neurotoxic chemicals like aluminum that you definitely don't want but even most of the regular deodorants that don't stop you from Prevent you from sweating that just mask or kill the smell Those are all endocrine disrupting.

Most of them are. So, use products wisely, but better yet, I think the more sustainable approach is the cheaper approach for sure, and the more convenient one is to simply pay attention to what you eat, and remove those foods that you know make you smell poorly. You know, and that's in particular, obviously, you know, anything that's processed.

Chunk food, you know, I shouldn't even have to mention, you know, those should not be part of any diet anyway. But also many plant foods that you might be okay with otherwise can cause you to smell. You know, dairy, I mean, pay attention to that. Maybe dairy is causing you to smell, you know. and just try to stick to meat for a couple of days.

You don't have to do it, you know, become a carnivore, but just try eating only meat for a couple of days and see how you smell or how you don't smell. And maybe that's a good cue for you to kind of, you know, shape your diet in particular when you maybe have to go on business meetings where it's, you know, maybe inconvenient to reapply deodorant every so often.

That's a sure way to not smell. With that we're gonna wrap it up. I hope you like this episode. If you have any questions, you know, shoot me an email, you know. Always happy to, to answer and I'll hope I'll, I'll see and hear you in the next episode.