Few mother and father would describe the smells emanating from their adolescent kids as redolent of sandalwood. But one of many distinct elements of teenage physique odor is a compound that evokes that heat, woody perfume, in line with a small new examine, which in contrast the scents of adolescents to these of infants and toddlers.
Unfortunately, that’s nearly the place the excellent news ended for youngsters (and their mother and father). Although there have been many similarities between the chemical substances wafting from teenagers and tots, the variations tended to favor the youthful kids, whose physique odor samples had increased ranges of a compound with a flowery perfume. Adolescents, alternatively, produced a compound that smelled like sweat and urine and had increased ranges of drugs described as smelling tacky, musty and “goatlike.”
The authors of the examine, which was revealed within the journal Communications Chemistry on Thursday, wouldn’t go as far as to say that the outcomes proved that adolescents smelled worse than infants. But the variations they documented “may contribute to a less pleasant body odor of teenagers,” mentioned Diana Owsienko, who performed the examine as a part of her doctoral analysis on the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg in Germany. (She is now a researcher at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden.)
Body odor is a fancy mix of airborne chemical substances, lots of that are produced when sweat and sebum, an oily substance usually secreted by way of hair follicles, are damaged down by pores and skin microbes or react with different compounds within the air. The variations in scent between younger kids and youths in all probability stem from puberty-driven adjustments in sweat and sebum manufacturing, the researchers mentioned.
The examine was based mostly on samples from 18 younger kids, who had been age 3 or youthful, and 18 adolescents who had gone by way of puberty. To acquire the physique odor samples, the scientists sewed small cotton patches into the armpits of T-shirts and physique fits, which the kids and youths wore in a single day. (Participants had been requested to chorus from utilizing scented hygiene merchandise and consuming particularly aromatic meals, resembling onions and garlic, for 48 hours beforehand.)
In the lab, the scientists extracted and analyzed the chemical compounds that had permeated the patches, pooling collectively samples from a number of kids in the identical age group.
Odor samples from younger kids contained many of the identical chemical substances because the samples from youngsters, the researchers discovered.
But there have been two compounds, each steroids, that had been current solely within the adolescent samples. Sweat glands that don’t turn into energetic till puberty secrete precursors to those compounds, which pores and skin microbes convert into the steroids in query.
Characterizing scents is hard. “There is no global consensus on how to describe odors,” mentioned Helene Loos, who’s an aroma and scent researcher on the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg and an writer of the brand new paper.
Odor specialists on the college had beforehand developed a typical vocabulary for characterizing the smells of various compounds, with an preliminary deal with meals aromas. “We now also extended this flavor language to substances occurring in body odors,” Dr. Loos mentioned.
Careful whiffs of the adolescents’ steroids revealed that one of many compounds smelled of sandalwood and musk. The different additionally had musk-like qualities, with the unlucky additions of sweat- and urinelike aromas.
The teenagers additionally had increased ranges of compounds referred to as carboxylic acids. They included the musty, tacky and goatlike substances — in addition to some with much less offensive aromas, variously described as earthy, fruity or waxlike.
Carboxylic acids are contained in sebum, which additionally contains different compounds that may be transformed into carboxylic acids by microbes or varied chemical processes. Sebum manufacturing will increase throughout puberty.
The researchers theorize that, together, the 2 musky steroids plus the upper ranges of carboxylic acids might clarify why the physique odor of adolescents could be off-putting to some individuals.
“I think it’s difficult to determine that one odor is always pleasant for everyone and to say another odor is always unpleasant for every person,” Ms. Owsienko mentioned. “So this is an assumption from our side.”
