Home > Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine > Body Odor

Definition

Body odor is the unpleasant smell caused by the mixing of perspiration, or sweat, and bacteria on the skin. Sweat is generally an odorless body secretion. When bacteria multiply on the skin and break down these secretions, however, the resulting by-products may have a strong and disagreeable odor. This odor is often due to poor personal hygiene, but excessive perspiration or some other underlying disease is sometimes involved.

Causes & symptoms

People produce two kinds of sweat, eccrine and apocrine. Eccrine sweat glands secrete a mixture of water, salt (sodium chloride), urea, and lactic acid onto the skin. When a person is overheated, sweat seeps over the body, especially where the eccrine glands are numerous. These glands are concentrated in the armpits,...