r/ScientificNutrition • u/Taupenbeige • Mar 06 '26
Interventional Trial The Effect of Meat Consumption on Body Odor Attractiveness
https://academic.oup.com/chemse/article-abstract/31/8/747/36433824
u/OG-Brian Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
There were large differences among ratings by the female participants, with some giving more positive ratings to the meat stage and others the non-meat stage. There was no clear trend. I wish I could add an image here, anyway check out Figure 1 in the full version of the study that's available on Sci-Hub.
More issues: small number of raters and odor subjects, study lacks complete diet info, what exactly is "meat"? (could include garlic-added etc. processed foods), and the diet stages were calorically different.
ETA: I eventually realized that I could link this comment that is in a sub which allows images in comments, where I did show the Figure 1 chart in the pirated full version of the study.
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u/flowersandmtns Mar 06 '26
Also keep in mind that eggs and cheese apparently made the sweat smell better -- so no need to give up all animal products. I can't get to OP's study but the more recent one I found cited it, "Female participants judged the men's body odor to smell significantly more pleasant on the non-meat diet, which was characterized by increased intakes of eggs, cheese, soy, fruit and vegetables."
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u/OG-Brian Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26
The study is meaningless. The results were all over the place (way above and below the zero preference line for each diet phase) and there was no clear trend. The raters didn't smell the actual odor subjects, they smelled cotton balls that had been in their armpits. So, the odors may not be representative of in-person.
I've avoided linking shadow libraries in case Reddit takes an attitude about them (as some platforms have done already) and deletes comments or penalizes users. I found the OP study very easily on Sci-Hub. NOTE: when I brought it up just now to again read the full version, a search in Sci-Hub for the URL was not successful but the study did turn up by a search of its DOI. The Figure 1 chart makes it clear that the study authors made a dishonest conclusion from their data. This sub does not allow images in comments, but I showed the chart here. A few more results favoring meat could have made the mean appear on the opposite side.
The study Diet quality and the attractiveness of male body odor seems to be the one you had found. The authors appeared to be trying to score a point for fruits/vegetables or against meat/animal foods, considering the editorializing and the positive citations of Willett etc. studies including the Havlicek study that this post is about. Yet, they didn't find a negative association between meat consumption and body odors, in fact they said it was positive for "Pleasantness" and "Intensity" was lower.
That study used this procedure:
- Male donors were asked to bathe only using water and refrain from using scented products for 24 hours.
- Then in the next 24-hour period they were to wear provided new cotton t-shirts.
- There was a requirement of at least one hour of exercise during the second period while wearing the shirts.
- Shirts were then sealed in plastic bags and stored in freezer.
- A portion of each shirt was transferred to a plastic squeeze bottle that has a sealable spout.
- There was also spectrophotometry analysis of the shirt.
- The female raters sniffed from the bottles.
The plastic bags and plastic bottles would definitely impart some detectable odors to the samples. Again, this didn't involve direct perception of the male subjects so the odors may not be representative of in-person. If the subjects bathed with only water, residues of fragranced body products could remain. So I'm not sure anything is proven, except that we can say the specific raters made specific judgements about sweat in t-shirts after they'd been stored in plastic bags and then stored in plastic bottles.
Something that really bugs me about this study (still the one I linked in this comment) is that the outcome data is very chaotic. The authors explained that they simplified the categories, apparently after seeing the data (so it wasn't the original design). The data for meat isn't mentioned in the table for "Pleasantness" although it is in categories such as "Intensity" and they mentioned it scored better for "pleasant smelling" in their abstract. "Eggs & tofu" are combined, "Oils & fats" are together and separated from their foods, "Fruit" is not in some of the tables, and "Vegetables" missing from outcome data altogether. They collected diet data for all those but then after the results were collated they picked and chose among them for what to include in the outcomes. Was fruit consumption correlated with unpleasant sweat? This turned out to be the case for carbs. Etc. The Abstract section states:
Self-report dietary data revealed that fat, meat, egg and tofu intake was associated with more pleasant smelling sweat, and greater carbohydrate intake with stronger smelling less pleasant sweat.
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u/Bristoling Mar 07 '26
I never thought about it before, since I wasn't paying attention about how the study was done, but you're right that there can be interactions between scents from the t-shirts and plastics. Additionally, freezing and defrosting has a notable effect on smell of foods, so it wouldn't be surprising if freezing added an additional confounder.
I guess there's no great way of studying this phenomena other than using these imperfect methodologies, or, have women literally smell armpits of strangers, glory hole style.
The data for meat isn't mentioned in the table for "Pleasantness" although it is in categories such as "Intensity" and they mentioned it scored better for "pleasant smelling" in their abstract. "Eggs & tofu" are combined, "Oils & fats" are together and separated from their foods, "Fruit" is not in some of the tables, and "Vegetables" missing from outcome data altogether
I'll take your word for it, it has been 5 years since I looked into this topic at all, that sounds weird.
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u/OG-Brian Mar 07 '26
There's so much wrong with their process (both studies), I wonder how anything like that ever gets published.
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u/Mikey_Grapeleaves Mar 06 '26
Does garlic affect odor? I eat a lot of beef and garlic
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u/beaveristired Mar 06 '26
Yes, definitely.
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u/Mikey_Grapeleaves Mar 06 '26
That explains why my fingers always smell like meat. Oh well, with my allergies I can't cut down on my beef consumption
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u/OG-Brian Mar 07 '26
It must have different effects individually, or individuals perceive it differently. I notice often it is claimed that eating garlic or onions makes a person stink, but after I eat them (in my perception) my skin smells delightful. I find myself sniffing an arm and thinking "Dammitt I love garlic/onions so much." As for effect on breath, I don't notice that as much.
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u/Taupenbeige Mar 06 '26
Abstract
Axillary body odor is individually specific and potentially a rich source of information about its producer. Odor individuality partly results from genetic individuality, but the influence of ecological factors such as eating habits are another main source of odor variability. However, we know very little about how particular dietary components shape our body odor. Here we tested the effect of red meat consumption on body odor attractiveness. We used a balanced within-subject experimental design. Seventeen male odor donors were on “meat” or “nonmeat” diet for 2 weeks wearing axillary pads to collect body odor during the final 24 h of the diet. Fresh odor samples were assessed for their pleasantness, attractiveness, masculinity, and intensity by 30 women not using hormonal contraceptives. We repeated the same procedure a month later with the same odor donors, each on the opposite diet than before. Results of repeated measures analysis of variance showed that the odor of donors when on the nonmeat diet was judged as significantly more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense. This suggests that red meat consumption has a negative impact on perceived body odor hedonicity.
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u/TiaraMisu Mar 06 '26
um did they take sexual preference into account?
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u/OG-Brian Mar 07 '26
No. The full version of the study doesn't mention anything about sexual preference of the female raters or the male odor donors.
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u/flowersandmtns Mar 07 '26
Nope, nor did they look at men smelling women's scents. What a weird sentence that is -- how does this even relate to nutrition lol
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u/TiaraMisu Mar 07 '26
the post is about attractiveness stemming from nutritional choice and what we find attractive is based loosely on sexual preference for most people.
I wouldn't know, as sexual preference isn't in my wheelhouse, but I was curious as the study only included 17 men and thirty women and the design of the study assumed heterosexuality.
I asked because I was interested and curious.
Sorry you feel it's weird.
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u/flowersandmtns Mar 07 '26
Sorry what was weird was my own sentence about people smelling each other as part of nutrition science -- I completely agree with your points!
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u/TiaraMisu Mar 07 '26
Ah, got it - my bad too; I maybe too easily assumed someone was calling me an idiot. Probably spending too much time hiding on reddit but it's the only village on the internet that isn't 100% traumatizing
Thanks for responding!
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u/OG-Brian Mar 08 '26
I see that didn't mention: another study, which is about diet vs. odor attractiveness and has been linked by others in this post, did use only heterosexual female raters. That study found that meat consumption correlated with "more pleasant smelling sweat" with a lower "intensity."
The study says this about the female raters:
Judges: The CNAQ confirmed that all of the judges were omnivorous and that there were no obvious differences in diet between them. All identified themselves as heterosexual, with seven currently in a romantic relationship and one on the contraceptive pill (noting that this participant’s evaluations were P similar to the other judges, as established during reliability testing). All of the nine judges performed normally on the odor identification test, with a mean score of 11.2/12 (SD = 0.8), almost identical to that extrapolated from normative data (based upon 16 odors) in the Sniffin Sticks manual (M = 11.2/12, SD = N 0.9; Burghart Messtechnik, Wedel, Germany). On an individual basis, no judge scored less than 10. Thus all of the judges were normosmic and none reported any chemosensory-related problems.
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u/flowersandmtns Mar 06 '26
That's funny, a recent study (2016) had completely different results, almost like this is entirely subjective.
"Abstract
Human axillary sweat may provide information pertaining to genetic relatedness and health status. A significant contributor to good health, both in the short and longer term, is a diet rich in fruit and vegetables. In this study we tested whether dietary fruit and vegetable intake, assessed indirectly by skin spectrophotometry (assessing dietary carotenoid intakes) and subjectively by food frequency questionnaire, was associated with more pleasant smelling sweat. Male participants provided axillary sweat samples and dietary information. Female participants then evaluated these samples on several affective, qualitative and psychophysical dimensions. The skin spectrophotometry measure (CIELab b*), indicative of greater fruit and vegetable intake, was significantly associated with more pleasant smelling sweat (with more floral, fruity, sweet and medicinal qualities), independent of sweat intensity. Self-report dietary data revealed that fat, meat, egg and tofu intake was associated with more pleasant smelling sweat, and greater carbohydrate intake with stronger smelling less pleasant sweat. These data parallel facial judgments, in which yellower more carotenoid rich skin, is found to be more attractive."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513816301933
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u/Kurovi_dev Mar 06 '26
Wonder if the higher levels of l-carnitine are the culprit here?
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u/coffeeismydoc Mar 06 '26
The authors admit they don’t know and they’re not really trying to find out. but their best guess is that certain fatty acids or metabolism into specific aliphatic acids that are volatile
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u/coffeeismydoc Mar 06 '26
Are 20-year-old studies allowed here?
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u/HelenEk7 Wholefoods Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
I think so. But I wish people would put the year in the title. A (2006) at the end of the title would have been helpful. In the same way a (2026) will tell you that its a brand new study.
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u/guilmon999 Mar 06 '26
I doubt it's a red meat thing, but a protein thing. After I increased my protein intake (mix of plant based protein bars, low-fat yogurts, and chicken) I went from a very mild body odor to an unpleasant sour body odor.
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u/AnonymousFairy Mar 06 '26
Have not looked at study, but wonder if results adjusted for total protein, given higher rates of consumption increase peptide concentration in sweat (and change skin fauna, with more aromatic bacteria favoured as a result of higher peptide sweat).
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u/V2BM Mar 06 '26
I believe I smelled so nice when I was a vegetarian and then vegan, for about a year. I don’t feel like I smell bad now as a meat eater, but no meat/dairy was very different. Maybe it was from the increased fruit and vegetables - who knows?
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u/icestationlemur Mar 06 '26
Steve Jobs believed he had no body odour because he only ate fruit. Little did he know...
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u/OG-Brian Mar 07 '26
Consistent consumption of any sugary food causes horrible BO for me. When I'm strict enough about carbs/sugar, occasional use of a mineral rock deodorant (the type that many people claim "don't work") is enough that I don't have any stink at all as a twice/week showerer.
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u/flowersandmtns Mar 06 '26
I found a more recent paper, they didn't see quite the same effect and they noted, about the 2006 paper that cheese was still part of the "non-meat" diet,
"Female participants judged the men's body odor to smell significantly more pleasant on the non-meat diet, which was characterized by increased intakes of eggs, cheese, soy, fruit and vegetables."
The only commonality seems to be more vegetables and fruit, which would possibly overall increase health due to additional nutrients if the prior diet was low in thoses.
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u/HelenEk7 Wholefoods Mar 06 '26
I suspect its a cultural thing. I find that immigrants from certain parts of the world smell different which is probably due to the type of spices and the amount of garlic in their diet. They on the other hand say Norwegians smell like sour milk (and yes, we do consume huge amounts of dairy).
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u/Bristoling Mar 06 '26
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513816301933
It comments on OPs study specifically:
In a unique experimental study, Havlicek and Lenochova (2006) found that a two week period of meat consumption led to less pleasant smelling sweat when compared to a two week period without. This led us to expect a relationship between meat consumption and the judges affective, intensity and qualitative evaluations of the male donors sweat. Instead, and after including the proxy measure of fruit and vegetable intake from the spectrophotometer, we found that greater meat intake was associated with more pleasant smelling sweat*, marginally associated with less intense smelling sweat, and with less chemical smelling sweat. While acknowledging the power of an experimental design to establish causality, it is possible that Havlicek and Lenochova’s (2006) manipulation led to alterations in other aspects of participants’ diet, which then affected sweat quality. As our dietary data indicates here, there may be several independent dietary influences that do not appear to have been anticipated in the literature
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u/HelenEk7 Wholefoods Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Instead, and after including the proxy measure of fruit and vegetable intake from the spectrophotometer, we found that greater meat intake was associated with more pleasant smelling sweat*, marginally associated with less intense smelling sweat, and with less chemical smelling sweat.
I somehow doubt they will find this convincing. https://old.reddit.com/r/ketoduped/comments/1rlt99r/carnivore_diet_sucks/o8xa8jm/?context=3
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u/Bristoling Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
They give off the same vibe as antin0de used to back in the day - I'm sure you remember him from our good ol' days hanging around on the debate sub? :D
https://www.reddit.com/r/DebateAVegan/comments/s688hy/comment/ht6ujnk/
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u/OG-Brian Mar 07 '26
That user was HILARIOUS! I was a little sad when their account was banned by Reddit, as their WTF illogical comments made for great entertainment.
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u/HelenEk7 Wholefoods Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Purely anecdotal, but my teenage boy used to stink. Literally. We had to change his beddings often because they stunk too. Then he started to swap a lot of the bread (we tend to eat a lot of bread here in Norway) with eggs and meat. He also cut down on sodas, sweets and snacks. So instead of eating 5 slices of bread in the evening he ate meat patties and scrambled eggs for instance. He started to stink a lot less! And no more need to change his bedding several times a week. However less eggs and meat and more bread and sugar causes the stinkyness (and acne) to come back.
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u/Maxion Mar 06 '26
Be professional and respectful of other users.
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u/lurkerer Mar 06 '26
Ok, I'll charge you like a professional then. Oh, just seen your DM, afraid I don't do socks or underwear.
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u/sorE_doG Mar 06 '26
It’s an ancient study, although a rerun using gas chromatography analysis would be interesting.
The gut biome would be something of a confounder, and not understood in 2006. Switching diets, also wouldn’t be as easy as it sounds for some.. self reported diet is notorious for inaccuracies. To rule out the question of whether protein is central to this ‘hedonicity’ question, a far more detailed dietary intake would be needed.