TIL that due to a disfunction of the ABCCII gene the majority of Asians have significantly less body odor than other populations
TIL that due to a disfunction of the ABCCII gene the majority of Asians have significantly less body odor than other populations
Between 80 and 95% of East Asians have little to none of that typical acidic body odor smell. And it all comes down to a gene mutation.
I'll add that to the list of genes I want knocked out when CRISPR gets good enough.
Eh, it's probably good enough for this. Go for it.
We can do this on isolated cells, but I really don't think we have a way to distribute such a change across the zillions of cells in a human body.
And even if we could, it's not clear how much effect altering the gene after the fact would have. Maybe once your apocrine glands have obeyed the gene and developed a certain way, it's too late.
That said... Sign me the hell up.
Life pro tip for those who do stink when they sweat:
If you ever find yourself in a pinch, and either you forgot deodorant or it wore off (it’s bullshit that these deodorants last 24+ hours), you can use hand sanitizer as makeshift deodorant. The isopropyl alcohol in the hand sanitizer will also kill the bacteria that breaks down those lipids that cause the odor. You can also substitute rubbing alcohol for deodorant and it generally lasts longer.
Can I just rub some Asian people on me?
Sure, if they let your smelly ass get close enough to them.
The pro tip that we had to give out in college for the newcomers to the ballroom team every semester to mitigate body odor (edit: done in exactly this order):
- Shower with soap.
- Apply deodorant with antiperspirant.
- Put on clean clothes.
You would be surprised how many people in college don't understand the nuances of these points. Or other basically accepted hygiene practices of the area. For example, cologne or perfume is not "deodorant". Also, most things are not clean after you wear them (esp if you sweat), and dont become clean again until they are laundered. You may also notice we had to specify "with soap" for a shower.
The bit about antiperspirant is not strictly necessary, but nobody wants to put their hand near or accidentally in a sweaty pit.
Had a college roommate who would walk to the shower in socks, shower (for whatever that was worth), and come back wearing the SAME FUCKING SOCKS. "Do I smell or something?" "Yeah you do bro, and yes it is affecting you socially".
But did he change his habits? Nope.
✋dysfunction?
👉enhancement
In a genetic sense, it is a dysfunction of the gene that causes this. It's neat because we can actually trace the history of human migrations by looking at the distribution of this particular allele (version of a gene). We have analysed DNA from ancient remains of early Europeans and found that the A allele is absent. It appears like this version of the gene first emerged in an ancient East Asian population.
This gene also determines whether you have dry or sticky ear wax. It's a neat gene because it's uncommon for physical human traits to be controlled by one gene — most human characteristics are controlled by multiple genes (polygenic traits); ginger hair is another example of a monogenic trait. ABCC11 is neat because it affects multiple traits: sweat smell and earwax dryness.
It might also be implicated in breast cancer risk (I can't tell whether that's in an increased risk or decreased risk), but we don't really understand yet how that would work. From skimming the research, I would say we generally don't understand how this gene works at all. We do know some stuff about it and how/why it works, but we're still a decent way off of actually understanding its implications.
I'm not comfortable with calling something that is prevalent in 80%-95% of an area's population a dysfunction unless it results in remarkably lower life expectancy or quality of life otherwise.
The condition is caused by a loss-of-function mutation. It's a statement about a protein, not about the whole person.
Edit: ChatGPT explains it better than I can.
The ABCC11 gene encodes an apical efflux pump that helps transport fatty compounds, or lipids, from cells into sweat. When the gene is non-functional, these lipids can't cross the membrane barrier to reach the armpit. This prevents bacteria from accessing and metabolizing the organic compounds in sweat, which in turn reduces the production of odorant substances.
I get that part, but why is it a dysfunction? A specific mutation in the oculocutaneous albinism II gene causes less production of melanin in the iris resulting in blue eyes, but we don't call that a dysfunction despite being more sensitive to light and an increased risk of age-related muscular degeneration. Why would a mutation that makes it so lipids can't cross a membrane resulting in less odorous armpits be called a dysfunction?
This is a good point.
Is this specificly East Asian? Cause I had an Indian roommate once and that dude could knock out half the city with his stretch.
Yes. It is. The article specifically calls out east asia.
That should be in the title. Asia is huge.
A lot of that is diet and, of course, hygiene. Having 10% less BO doesn't do anything for you if you're not showering, or eating garlic gloves whole.
Never eat whole garlic gloves: they're simply too powerful
Yah, wow, some Indians need to have some intervention done. I know plenty of Indians that are perfectly fine, and then there's a subset that smell like me after a 2 week solo backpacking trip.
I'm East Asian. My ex (also Asian) said I smelled bad sometimes after exercising, but my current partner (not Asian) says I don't have any body odor. I do think that when we go to the gym together, their smell far outweighs mine. I can't smell myself at all, but then again, people are usually habituated to their own scents.
Sometimes, though, when I was a child, my father would come home from the gym, and we could all smell him from a mile away. I don't know if that's because the gene skipped him or if it's just because humans generally think their close family members are stinky.
It's nice to talk about this when my armpits aren't in danger of being sniffed by several drunk friends.
I can’t smell myself at all, but then again, people are usually habituated to their own scents.
IME no one is immune to gym odors. There are still many fats and proteins secreted by non-apocrine glands that are digestible by bacteria, so to eliminate body odor entirely we would probably need to evolve strong antimicrobial secretions or something.
Sweat rinses much of this bacteria-food off of us, but since we started wearing clothes it just transports the bulk of it to what we’re wearing (now stinky gym clothes).
That’s why showering before a workout is so effective for controlling gym odors: most of the bacteria and its food ends up in the drain rather than your clothes. Showering after is then mostly to rinse off salt.
Anyway I imagine the times you’ve smelled people after the gym were simply the times they skipped that pre-workout shower.
A feature, not a bug
I bet it would be wild to be unaware of body odor and run into someone without this gene disfunction.
Like whoa you do WHAT when you sweat? Like every time? This is normal? It smells Iike onions, spices and cheese when you work??
Onions, yes. Spices and cheese? What?
Men tend to smell of cheese and women onions, respectively. I’d love to know whether transitioning alters one’s scent and whether the person tends to notice the change.
more balanced diet ?
I’ve noticed after a workout a balls scent, but I’ve never thought of onions, spices and cheese.
It reminds me of how there is a gene that determines whether eating asparagus makes your pee stink, and there's a different gene that determines whether you can smell it. I had a friend who didn't have the stinky pee gene, but her boyfriend did, and she complained of the smell when she used the bathroom after him occasionally. He had the stinky pee gene, but not the gene to be able to smell the stink.
This came up in a random conversation with my friend, before she knew about the genes thing. I was so excited that I got to tell her about a cool science thing that I couldn't speak for a few moments.
This was pretty much exactly what happened when people started dropping by Japan in the colonial era
Well there's a pretty easy fix unless it's an extreme case. Razor and antiperspirant (or just deodorant if you're worried about aluminium).
Dysfunction ? More liked improved function...can I get the same treatment please?
I somehow got this . I never wear deodorant and don't get any BO even after a crazy sweaty day .
Just make sure you're getting some outside feedback on that, I've known folks so used to their own "brand" that they just couldn't tell. Smelled utterly rank and couldn't be convinced of it.
Try telling that to the 5-20% of the guys at my gym in Korea who are absolutely ripe. The problem with having most of your population not have major BO is that those that do generally have trouble dealing with it.
I'll assume east Asians. As you head not too far away from the Pacific, the rest of Asia starts needing deodorant quite badly.
And some Koreans need no deodorant at all.
Many Asians in fact
A decade ago, it was damn near impossible to get actual deodorant, not antiperspirant, in Korea. I had to get folks from The States to mail me Old Spice occasionally.
My partner, Filipino, doesn't need it either. She uses lime sometimes. Yes, really.
One of the most disgusting things I have ever read was from a guy on IRC who said he never bathed: "Women are attracted to my natural musk." (He also claimed to be 'voluntarily celibate.' This was long before incels were a thing.)
I have a friend that isn't asian that's like this, dude just bathes, no deodorant necessary, I was incredulous until I discovered this last year. It's just extremely rare in the western world.
I was wondering why I've never been too stinky