Larry
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Most people are surprised to hear that sweat doesn’t really smell at all. Sweat itself has either no or very little odor. Sweat is natural method for our body to cool down. As sweat evaporates in the air, our skin becomes cool. Sweating may also occur due to nervousness or anxiety. This is also normal. The odor associated with sweat is not really from the sweat itself. The odor comes from bacteria that live on our skin. Sweat has small amounts of oils in it that bacteria find tasty. Bacteria also love moisture, and it aids in bacterial reproduction. As the bacteria feed and reproduce, they give off a chemical that causes the odor we mistakenly believe comes from sweat.
The body has two types of sweat glands. Eccrine glands produce sweat that is mostly water with a little salt. Eccrine glands account for most of our sweat, but very little of our body odor. The other type of sweat glands are apocrine glands. Apocrine glands are located on the head, ears, armpits, belly button, and in the genital area. They produce sweat with high levels of oil in it. The bacteria in these areas thrive on apocrine gland sweat, thus giving off the most odor. Many people associate the feet with body odor, but, strangely, the feet have only eccrine sweat glands. The reason feet smell is due to the fact that they are usually dirtier than other parts of the body and because of the fact that they are usually covered. When the feet are covered, they stay moist longer, giving bacteria a longer chance to thrive, even though the oil content of the sweat is very low.
 Posted 5375 day ago
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