Human body odor

Martins, Y., Preti, G., Crabtree, C.R., Runyan, T., Vainius, A.A. and Wysocki, CJ. (2005) Preference for human body odors is influenced by gender and sexual orientation. Psych. Sci. 16, 694-701. 

Not surprisingly, much research in sharks, skates and rays has focused on the responses of sharks to human body odors. Human blood attracts sharks, while sweat does not, and urine was even slightly repellent (Tester, 1963). Practitioners use whale meat and mixtures of fish meal and fish oils as shark attrac-tants. In both carnivorous and herbivorous bony fish (Osteichthyes) smell deals with prey odors, social odors, and chemical stimuli in homing, and it is mediated by the first cranial nerve, the olfactory nerve. By contrast, taste serves in detection and selection of food and avoidance of toxic food, and it employs the facial, glossopharyngeal, vagal, and hypoglossal nerves. 

Human Body Odor Discrimination T-Shirt Experiment... 

Haze, S., Gozu, Y., Nakamura, S., Kohno, Y, Sawano, K., Ohta, H., andYamazaki, K. 2-Nonenal newly found in human body odor tends to increase with aging. J. Invest. Dermatol. 116 2001 520-524. 

Formaldehyde, HCHO, is a primary and necessary constituent of the first five synthetic adhesives in the listing. It is a simple organic chemical first identified during the latter half of the 1800s. Its irritating and toxic odor and preservative properties were known from the time of its early development. It is a ubiquitous chemical, formed naturally in small quantities by every process of incomplete combustion as well as in normal biologic processes. The human body has a natural formaldehyde level of about 3 lg/g, ie, 3 parts per million (ppm) in the blood at all times. 

Normally, only small amounts of acetone are produced in the human body. Diabetics produce larger amounts, sometimes enough to give their breath a sweet odor. 

Pause, B.M., Krauel, K., Sojka, B. and Ferstl, R. (1998) Body odor evoked potentials a new method to study the chemosensory perception of self and non-self in humans. Genetica 104, 285-294. 

The influence of odors such as perfumes and fragrances on human behavior is assumed to he acquired, and the responses elicited depend on the often complex previous social experiences. The response will be altered if a laboratory experiment eliminates contextual stimuli (Kirk-Smith and Booth, 1987). Social odors include those of the well-known security blankets in toddlers, familiarly scented bed sheets in new surroundings, and treating insomnia with mother s axillary odor on handkerchief. Removal of bad body odors (diet, metabolism defects) that disrupt interpersonal harmony appears to be universal. 

In humans, systemic effects are anorexia, nausea, edema of the face and hands, and abdominal pain. In a survey of 34 workers exposed to concentrations of up to 2.2mg/m complaints were a burning sensation of the face and hands, nausea, and a persistent (uncharacterized) body odor. One had chloracne, and five had an eczematous rash on the legs and the hands. Although hepatic function tests were normal, the mean blood level of chlorodiphenyl in the exposed group was approximately 400 ppb, whereas none was detected in the control group. ... 

Okayama, Japan. He reported his new enzyme system in 2002, which he had extracted from a bacterium. This will convert starch to trehalose in high yields, bringing down its cost to 1% of what it had been when it was extracted from natural sources such as yeast. Hayashibara also reported that trehalose suppresses human body odour, especially that given off by old people who produce the somewhat odorous chemicals 2-nonenal and 2-octenal41)in their skin. When they use a 2% solution of trehalose as a body lotion it reduces the emission of these smelly compounds by about 70%. Maybe one day it will find cosmetic uses and no doubt be added to deodorants and body lotions, as the following advert from the future shows ... 

As shown in the case of l-octen-3-one in the beginning of this chapter, aroma-active compounds show an interesting indication as media in human-environment interactions the role of this often disliked compound has some similarity to alarm pheromones. Flavor or smell of food can be categorized into food attractant molecules from this point of view. Infants are able to recognize the body odor of their mother and are attracted to it.189 An opposite example is represented by the notorious ability of skunks to spray, in which thiol compounds such as (E)-2-butene-1 -thiol and 3-methyl-l-butanethiol are used as potent repellents190(see Chapter 4.09). 

Go to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress Web site at www.centerforthestudyoftraumaticstress.org. Click on Fact Sheets, then click on Information for Relief Workers on Emotional Reactions to Handling Human Bodies. Scroll down and click on Information for Relief Workers on Emotional Reactions to Handling Human Bodies and then click on Leadership and Supervision for Body Recovery in Mass Death. How should relief workers handle victims personal effects What is the recommendation regarding use of perfumes, and so on, to mask odors Is pairing relief workers with a buddy a suggested practice What factors may increase the traumatic nature of the experience ... 

Pheromones are important for higher level animals, as well. Dogs, cats, foxes, and other territorial mammals (Peters and Mech, 1975) use urine to mark the boundaries of their territories. Females use urine to attract males when they are in estrus (see Section 6.18). Whether pheromones play an aphrodisiac role for humans is still an open question. Human male sweat and other body odors are apparently attractive to the opposite sex, especially at certain times during the menstrual cycle. 

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