Dietitian shares 4 foods that may be making you smell bad

Once you catch a whiff of yourself, it can be pretty mortifying.

You’ve showered, you’re wearing fresh clothes, and yet within a few minutes of sweating in the heat or pumping iron at the gym you find yourself catching a familiar odour that you thought you’d vanquished for the day.

Body odour isn’t anything to be ashamed of, of course, but if you’re suffering from a bout of it you might find that it’s all you can think about. Can anyone else smell it? Is there any chance they’ll smell it but blame someone else on this sweaty train?

Ever notice how you can almost smell some images? (Paul Biris/Getty Images)

Getting a daily shower in, regularly washing your clothes, and wearing deodorant should do the trick for most people, but if you’re in the midst of a battle with your body odour then it might be down to your diet.

According to dietician Erin Palinski-Wade, certain foods can have a profound effect on your natural musk, so if you’re wondering how to get a less sour personal fragrance then a quick look at your diet might give you the answers.

Let’s get into which foods might be giving you a case of the stinkies.

Fish

This might not come as a surprise seeing as fish can be pretty pungent in and of itself, but the reason why it might be giving you bad body odour could be down to a rare phenomenon. According to Cleveland Clinic, the body can convert choline found in fish into trimethylamine that is then expelled from the body through your breath and skin.

This only happens if you have a rare condition called trimethylaminuria, and sufferers may also produce the respective odour if they eat beans, brocolli, peanuts, soy, and cauliflower.

Spices

"Some spicy foods are known to increase body odour due to their sulphur-containing compounds and specific metabolites," Palinski-Wade explained Fox News Digital.

"When they are released, they interact with skin bacteria, resulting in specific odours."

Other high-sulphur ingredients include mustard, wasabi, horseradish, onion and garlic.

Cruciferous vegetables

This family of vegetables includes cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and kale, among others, and they might be contributing to your natural aroma. They contain sulfuric acid which enters your system via digestion, then leaks back out via sweat, breath and farts.

Red meat

High protein diets in general can increase your smelliness, with the proteins interacting with bacteria on your skin to intensify their aroma. Those proteins on their own are usually odourless, but they can produce a stinky cocktail once you’ve digested them and they’ve come into contact with your microbiome and sweat.

Red meat is particularly high in protein, although again this is applicable to high-protein diets in general.

Even some innocent vegetables might be increasing the strength of your body odour (Ekaterina Vasileva-Bagler/Getty Images)

Foods that combat body odour

There are some things you can add to your diet to help matters, too.

"Foods like apples, leafy greens, yogurt and green tea may help to neutralise odour-causing compounds and support beneficial gut bacteria, which can reduce unpleasant body odours." explained Palinski-Wade.

She added: "Staying well-hydrated and focusing on supporting metabolic health by improving quality sleep, reducing stress and staying active can all help to improve overall body odour."

Topics: Health, Diet