Causes of Body Odour

Sweating is our body’s natural response to regulate body temperature and to release toxins from our bodies. However, the result of sweating along with bacteria may lead to unpleasant body odour.

Our bodies have two types of sweat glands; eccrine and apocrine sweat glands. The sweat released from the “eccrine” sweat glands is odourless made up mainly of water and salt. On the other hand, the sweat that comes from the “apocrine” glands (usually located under the arm pits, the genital areas and around the nipples) contain proteins and oily substances that bacteria can feed on and break down to cause body odour. In short, body odour is the product of bacterial metabolism.

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