Re: Food odor from body

Hey Michael,

If you're still reading this, sorry to hear you've been having such a hard time. Body Odor conditions can be devastating, not least because it's so hard to get anyone to understand how much this affects your life and your self-esteem. It has the potential to shatter your work life, social life and hope for relationships in one fell swoop - yet still not seem like a real problem to outsiders.

I developed a serious problem with odor around 30 years ago, aged 20. This has had a long-term impact on my life and my mental health, but with hindsight my situation wouldn't have been so bad if I'd handled it differently. (It's easy to say that now, but at the time I was distraught and didn't know what to do.)

My symptoms are slightly different to yours. I get underarm B.O., but I get food-related odor from the rest of my body too. The biggest culprits seem to be wheat and caffine, but large amounts of dairy, sugar, onions, garlic and spices also cause me problems. It's not just food that's an issue: smoking is seriously bad news, and makes even my jeans smell very nasty within a day of being fresh on. It's like tar comes out of my pores.

Nowadays odor is still a bit of an issue, but there's been a massive improvement - I'm probably about 80% cured compared to my worst point. The main problem now, though, is the damage the early years did to my mental health. I wish I'd been able to talk to someone at the start, but I found it too humiliating and clammed up totally. I felt so alone and so utterly hopeless. Finding a good counsellor - in person, online or even just a free helpline - would have made a massive difference.

In terms of reducing odour, what I've found helpful is:
- A strict diet. I went (sort of) paleo for a month: no drinks apart from water, no smoking, no wheat. Rice, meat, fruit, and some veg only. This was hard, but it made a massive difference to my Body Odor . After that first month I knew diet was important, so then I experimented to try and find exactly what was causing the problems. Nowadays I'm more relaxed about food, but I know what my worst triggers are.
- Liquid chlorophyll. This makes a big difference to me, and I only discovered it a couple of years ago.
- Magnesium and zinc supplements seem to make a real difference too. (I take a joint magnesium/zinc tablet called Osteocare. TBH I don't know if it's the magnesium or the zinc which helps, but at least one of them seems to.)

These may or may not work for you. I tend to view Body Odor as a symptom which could have any number of underlying causes. My main suggestions are to (a) find someone you trust to talk to (or do it anonymously), and (b) keep experimenting methodically.

Good luck! If you want someone to chat to, let me know. I don't use social media much but will try and sort something out. Tweet