The scent of your body

Your body has a characteristic smell, just like your fingerprints. That 'scent' will still exist even if you change your diet.

Mammals such as mice and humans have a characteristic body odor, called odortypes, which acts as a nameplate, helping to distinguish one individual from another, or even helping to choose a mate.

An individual's Odortype, because some of the genes in an area of ​​the genome are called the main tissue compatibility complex (MHC), which are important in the immune system and can be found in most vertebrates.

Sweat and urine

Odortype information is transmitted through body fluids such as sweat and urine, containing many chemical gas molecules known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in which many substances produce a specific odor. Anyone who has ever entered the changing room of the fitness center has ever experienced.

Food that animals or humans use can affect body odor; Garlic, when consumed in large quantities, is a good example.

Researchers at the Monell Chemistry Center, Philadelphia, sought answers to the question of whether dietary changes can affect the genetics of odortype prescribed in an individual and thereby disguise them. identity.

Odortype information is transmitted through body fluids like sweat (Photo: tapchilamdep.com)

In the behavioral experiment, they trained rats to use their sense of smell to choose between different pairs of tested mice on MHC genes, diets or both. The researchers used chemical analysis to test the VOC's in the urine of mice with MHC and different diets.

The results, published in the online journal PLoS ONE on October 31, show that genetically determined odortype remains the same regardless of rats' diets, although changes in diet affect the network. Odor of mouse individuals.

Like fingerprints

Gary Beauchamp, a biologist at Monell, said: 'The results from this animal model show that the body has a characteristic' scent ', like fingerprints or DNA samples. .

Author Jae Kwak, a chemist at Monell, said: 'These results show that scent, like fingerprints, can be a reliable way to identify an individual. If the same results occur for humans, it is very possible to make devices that recognize the 'scent' of an individual '.

Beauchamp said similar methods could be used to search for differences in body odor associated with disease. This may be a prerequisite for the development of sensors to detect and diagnose disorders such as lung cancer and cancer as well as some viral diseases.