Merrida

I don't sweat excessively, and personally, my sweat rarely has an odor to it, or if it does, it's pretty insignificant. The only correlation I've noticed myself is certain foods (the obvious asparagus which I remember from being a little kid, in the summers, and with incredible embarassment, thought it was "me" or my imagination, until I grew up and found out it was the asparagus!), and my body doesn't personally handle foods like garlic, onions or fish very well. I have certain foods I deem "weekend foods" precisely because I know they'll take 2 days to get out of my system.

One nasty surprising offender was when I ate roasted veggie garden burgers! Those seem pretty inocuous don't they? Usually the roasting helps mellow any sulfers or soften any pungent ingredients, and garden burgers alone,....heck, seems ok, right? Especially just one.

I ate one for lunch with mayo on a bun, brushed my teeth, used listerine too I think, went to work for the afternoon, thought nothing of it.... and when I came home 7 HOURS LATER (!) my Husband was the one who asked me, "What did you EAT!?" (That was my breath, though, and all I could think about was how I was totally clueless for all that time, and all my poor clients that afternoon!)

But back to the topic of body odor, my question,... I'm trying to postulate some possible offenders in this regard, other than those we all pretty much conclude contribute strongly, such as those we mentioned.

What kind of hormonal problems would affect body odor? (Specifically, I mean).

As for the botox injections for sweating, yes I've read that, too. (Do you remember the "boxes" for sale at the back of magazines that you'd put your palms on, and the soles of your feet, to stop sweating? I think they contained aluminum chlorhydrate or something else to deaden the nerve endings that would cause dilation of the pores around the sweat glands).

I can see botox doing the same thing. My first thought was, as yours was, -- for the most part, we sweat for a purpose, our skin is our largest organ, and it's one method of ridding the body of toxins but very importantly, it's also a thermal regulator and diagnostic tool. Tampering with it must have side effects. I guess proponents would feel the body just reabsorbs the sweat.

I'm one of the rare females who does not wear anti-perspirant. Even in my field. I wear men's deodorant. (I have a hard time finding "female" products that are deodorants only -- although the whole "female/male" thing is beyond me). I have not worn anti-perspirants for about 15 years except on rare occasions like formal events.

A final question: A number of cultures do not bathe or shower to the degree that Americans do and in fact we've been smirked at for our excessive concern over our daily rituals. These practices seem long-standing, and I've read numerous articles on various positions. Are there specific health benefits or to the contrary, potential risks, in bathing or not bathing "regularly," in correlation to FREQUENCY?

In particular I've read about the bacteria on the skin, and that (aside from the obvious damage done by stuff like excessive sloughing or scrubbing of the skin or harsh detergent cleansers)... is there truly any health benefit to "our" daily cleansings over other cultures views of less frequent washing? (Other than our cultural perceptions of cleanliness or odors?)

Thanks.