Each person carries a distinctive scent profile, much like a fingerprint. Everything from our personality type to our mood and health affects the way we smell. The past few decades have revealed that odor is shaped by our genes, hormones, health, and hygiene. Whether we are male or female, young or old, dominant or subordinate, ovulating or pregnant, sick or well, happy or sad. Many of these factors are out of our control but not all. A significant influence on the way we smell is the food we eat. Not only does this affect our overall aroma, but also how we are perceived, including how attractive we appear to others.
That mysterious pull you feel toward someone might have more to do with their dinner choices than you realize. Science has uncovered fascinating connections between what we consume and how irresistibly we smell to others. Get ready to discover which foods can transform your natural scent into something absolutely magnetic.
The Unique Scent Signature
Each person carries a distinctive scent profile, much like a fingerprint. Everything from our personality type such as extroversion, dominance and neuroticism to our mood and health affects the way we smell. The past few decades have revealed that odor is shaped by our genes, hormones, health, and hygiene. Whether we are male or female, young or old, dominant or subordinate, ovulating or pregnant, sick or well, happy or sad.
Many of these factors are out of our control but not all. A significant influence on the way we smell is the food we eat. Not only does this affect our overall aroma, but also how we are perceived, including how attractive we appear to others, according to a small but growing body of research.
How Food Shapes Our Odour
Food affects our body odour by two main routes, explains experts in the field. When we eat, bacteria in our gut help break down the food, and this process can release gases that cause bad breath. About 25% of adults worldwide experience bad breath, and food is a major reason for this.
Food also changes the smell of our sweat. Animal proteins are broken down by the body into amino acids and fats, which are then excreted through sweat where they interact with skin bacteria. While sweat itself is odourless, these chemical interactions create the distinctive scents we associate with perspiration.
The Power of Plants: Fruits and Vegetables
Foods from the allium family, such as garlic and onions, can also affect the smell of our sweat and breath for the same reason as cruciferous vegetables: when they’re metabolised by the human body, they break down into stinky compounds like diallyl disulphide and allyl methyl sulphide. Surprisingly, though, studies suggest that while garlic definitely makes people’s breath smelly, it makes people’s armpit sweat more attractive.
When it comes to fruit and vegetables more widely, eating more of them can lead to a more attractive scent. A 2017 study in Australia found that men who had consumed more fruit and vegetables were significantly associated with smelling better more fruity, floral and sweet. The women rated the shirts of the men who primarily ate fruits and vegetables as smelling the best with more floral, fruity, sweet qualities.
Meat, Fish, and the Scent of Protein
Meat and fish can also produce a distinct body odour as animal proteins are broken down by the body into amino acids and fats, which are then excreted through sweat where they interact with skin bacteria. Fish and beans contain trimethylamine, a strong-smelling compound. Some people have a rare condition that makes them smell like fish after eating it, but this is not common.
There’s even a health condition, called trimethylaminuria also known as “fish odour syndrome” which arises when the body can’t turn trimethylamine into a non-smelly compound. This can lead to a strong body odour, but this condition is quite rare. A study of adult men from 2006 looked at 17 men who were either eating a meat or non-meat diet for two weeks. Women rated their scent for their pleasantness, attractiveness, masculinity and intensity.
Alcohol, Coffee, and Their Lingering Effects
Alcohol consumption affects odour through multiple pathways in the body. When the liver processes alcohol, it creates compounds that can influence both breath and body scent. The dehydrating effects of alcohol also contribute to dry mouth conditions that encourage bacterial growth and unpleasant breath odours.
Caffeine presents its own aromatic challenges. This stimulant can increase sweat production and intensify natural body odours. Coffee lovers might find traces of their favorite beverage lingering in unexpected ways, though the direct relationship between caffeine consumption and attractiveness through scent remains an area needing further investigation.
Fasting and Its Surprising Consequences
The relationship between eating patterns and attractiveness takes an unexpected turn with fasting research. Studies have revealed that short-term fasting might actually enhance how appealing someone smells to others, though this comes with interesting contradictions.
Women who participated in controlled fasting studies were rated as having more attractive-smelling sweat after periods without food. Yet fasting typically worsens breath odour, highlighting the complex and sometimes conflicting ways our dietary choices influence different aspects of our scent profile.
The Mystery of Attraction Through Smell
Scientists believe that smell is an important part of how we interact with others. While it is difficult to separate the effects of food from other factors that influence attractiveness, research suggests that eating more fruits and vegetables and less meat and alcohol can help you smell more appealing. The unpredictability of research findings reflects the deeply individual nature of human chemistry and attraction.
What makes one person irresistible might not work for another, proving there’s no universal recipe for the perfect scent. How we are perceived, including how attractive we appear to others remains fascinatingly complex, intertwining biology, diet, and personal chemistry in ways science is still working to fully understand.
