An article in the November 16, 2009 issue of Special Chemicals reported on a study consumer products company Beiersdorf had published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology revealing why your arm pits and other parts of your body can become unpleasantly odiferous. It seems the aromas you might experience in the locker room of your local gym, on a crowded bus at rush hour, or when your partner hasn’t gotten around to bathing after mowing the lawn (so gross) is all about a single protein molecule. The Beiersdorf scientists in Hamburg (which is a lovely city by the way—and not smelly at all) found the components of sweat responsible for being stinky are transported to the surface of skin by a special transport protein. Once this protein brings these components of sweat to the surface and is decomposed by bacteria on skin you get a wafting, un-aromatic body odor.

Even more interesting, depending on their region of origin, 30 to 100 percent of the Asian population have no problem with body odor as it is experienced by persons of European descent. Beiersdorf researchers discovered that this transport protein found in sweat is inactive in most people of Asian descent. I mean really, who would have thought?

Beiersdorf researchers are no doubt excited to start working on further research that would enable them to develop new forms of deodorants. When you think about it, there hasn’t been a new form of deodorant for decades. Come on Beiersdorf, we’re counting on you!