Higher concentrations of carboxylic acids in adolescents cause an irritating olfactory mixture reminiscent of cheese, urine and even goat.
- Because of high levels of carboxylic acids, adolescents exhibit “pungent” odors like cut grass, cheese, urine, and goat.
- These are generated by the sebaceous glands, which become very active again around puberty and come into contact with all kinds of bacteria.
- Smelling bad could promote adolescents’ independence from their parents.
Why do babies smell good and teenagers smell less pleasant? This is the question asked by scientists at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). To answer this question, they conducted a study, the results of which were published in the journal Communications Chemistry.
Teenagers smell bad because of high levels of carboxylic acids
“Body odors change during development and this change influences interpersonal communication between parents and their children. The molecular basis of this chemical communication has not yet been elucidated,” the team wrote. For the purposes of their research, she recruited 18 children under the age of 3. Their parents had to wash them with unscented shower gel. Next, the authors took body odor samples from pajamas (at the armpit area). They did the same with 18 adolescents aged 14 to 18. All cotton was then collected and analyzed in the laboratory to determine which odorous chemical compounds were present in each sample.
According to the results, most chemicals responsible for body odor, for example citrus and soap-smelling aldehydes, were similar between the two groups of volunteers. However, there were some differences. Teenagers’ sweat contained high levels of carboxylic acids. These compounds are associated with “pungent” odors like cut grass, cheese, urine, and goat. According to researchers, they are caused by the sebaceous glands, secreting sebum, which become very active again around puberty and come into contact with all kinds of bacteria. “Thus, sexual maturation coincides with changes in the chemical composition of body odor.”
“Becoming more odorous can help them develop a degree of independence.”
“Baby smell helps parents and children bond. But it doesn’t last forever. Once children become teenagers and no longer rely on their parents as much, becoming more smelly to mom and dad can help them to develop a certain degree of independence as they begin to strike out on their own”, has explained Ilona Croypsychologist and co-author of the work.
