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Last week, my mom complained that she\u2019s starting to smell \u201clike an old person\u201d.<\/p>\n
She had grabbed her favorite sweater and draped it over herself at the movie theater. \u201cIt smelled like my grandmother,\u201d she said, almost whispering. \u201cI thought someone must have borrowed the jacket. But it was just me.\u201d<\/p>\n
My mom, who\u2019s in her 60s, has a ton of energy. Her hair is thick and still naturally chestnut. She\u2019s healthy and strong; she likes to hike and go to rock concerts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel like an old person. Why do I smell like one?\u201d she whined.<\/p>\n
I told her, truthfully, that I didn\u2019t notice any new aroma. I thought she smelled the same as always: a mix of lotion and gardenia. But I immediately knew what she was talking about.<\/p>\n
Experts say that we do smell different as we age. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most universal, least talked-about parts of being human,\u201d says Dr Roya Javid, a dermatologist in Monterey, California. \u201cIt\u2019s just biology, unfolding on schedule, the same way we grow taller, then our hair goes gray. Every single person on the planet goes through these same transitions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The musty odor that people sometimes call \u201cold person smell\u201d comes from a chemical compound called 2-nonenal. 2-nonenal is produced when certain skin oils oxidize and break down, says Javid.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a normal \u2013 and unavoidable \u2013 change.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur skin is coated in a thin layer of natural oils called skin lipids. They keep skin soft, waterproof and protected,\u201d she says. Those lipids are made up of fatty acids, and as we age, the fatty acids change in composition. At the same time, the skin\u2019s ability to fight off every day wear-and-tear slows down. The oils are more exposed, and when they break down through oxidation, they release 2-nonenal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a natural byproduct of skin ageing \u2013 not dirt, not poor hygiene,\u201d Javid says. \u201cIt\u2019s just oil quietly changing over time, the same way metal changes when it\u2019s exposed to air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Levels of 2-nonenal vary by person. \u201cWe don\u2019t yet know why some develop a stronger scent than others,\u201d says Javid. \u201cThough an individual\u2019s skin-oil composition, genetics, the skin\u2019s microbiome, hygiene practices, clothing, health and environment may all play a role in both how much 2-nonenal is produced and how much stays on the skin throughout the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experts say \u201cold person smell\u201d can show up much earlier than you might expect.<\/p>\n
A Japanese study from 2001 tested the skin of subjects between the ages of 26 and 75, and detected 2-nonenal starting at age 40. But Dr Arshad Rather, consultant geriatrician and general physician at Medical Express Clinic in London, says this doesn\u2019t mean people wake up with a noticeable new odor.<\/p>\n
\u201cResearch suggests 2-nonenal increases gradually the older you get, particularly past middle age. It\u2019s not a switch flipping at 40 \u2013 more a dial slowly turning up,\u201d says Rather.<\/p>\n
Experts note that developing an age-specific odor isn\u2019t unique to older adults. In fact, every age group has associated smells, for better or worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery stage of life has its own signature scent,\u201d says Javid. \u201cBabies smell sweet and milky because their scent glands haven\u2019t switched on yet. Puberty flips that switch, and suddenly hormones drive a stronger, muskier smell for teens. Adulthood has a more consistent scent tied to sweat and daily life. And [these] changes in the skin\u2019s natural oils give people a different scent later on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Any negative feelings people have toward \u201cold person smell\u201d are really a perception problem, not a reality problem, Javid says.<\/p>\n
A blind test found that the 2-nonenal scent may not be disagreeable. In one 2012 study, researchers asked 41 young adults to smell T-shirts worn by individuals from three age groups: young (20\u201330 years old), middle-age (45\u201355) and old age (75\u201395). The researchers found that the odor from older adults was \u201crated as less intense and less unpleasant\u201d than other groups.<\/p>\n
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Sign up to Well Actually<\/span><\/p>\n Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Dr Johan N Lundstr\u00f6m, a professor of psychology at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and one of the authors of the study, says his team was surprised by the results. They hypothesized that smell would follow a linear trend, with the youngest group being rated highest and the oldest group rated the lowest, but that wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n \u201cThe elderly have a clearly separate body odor quality, but it was not rated as being all that negative,\u201d Dr Lundstr\u00f6m says.<\/p>\n Experts say there\u2019s no way to stop 2-nonenal from developing. But there are some ways to manage the odor.<\/p>\n Javid says regular bathing can wash away some of the scent. However, soap and water won\u2019t fully remove the chemical, because it doesn\u2019t simply sit on the surface of the skin like sweat \u2013 rather, it\u2019s being generated continuously. Deodorants might temporarily cover up a smell, but won\u2019t remove 2-nonenal.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, regularly washing clothes, sheets and airing out rooms can help reduce the odor in the home. But because 2-nonenal won\u2019t easily wash out, it can linger even after the most dedicated cleaning practices.<\/p>\n Some body wash products are marketed as neutralizing 2-nonenal, such as soap made with persimmon. Experts say while there are some anecdotal accounts that these help, scientific evidence is lacking.<\/p>\n Rather suspects there\u2019s a connection between 2-nonenal production and a person\u2019s lifestyle and diet, but says more studies are needed. \u201cSince the smell comes from an oxidation reaction, reducing oxidative stress is a sensible target. Eating antioxidant-rich foods, such as colourful fruit and vegetables and sources of vitamins C and E, can reduce oxidative stress,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cNot smoking and protecting your skin from sun damage are sensible anti-oxidation habits too,\u201d adds Rather.<\/p>\n In the end, experts say it\u2019s true that people develop a different smell as they age, but it\u2019s nothing to be embarrassed about.<\/p>\n If a person starts to notice they smell like 2-nonenal \u2013 which we all will \u2013 Javid urges them to not feel self-conscious or spend a fortune on special soaps.<\/p>\n \u201cFocus on the things that support your skin generally: antioxidants, less sun damage, less smoking, good hydration,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd know that the science says you\u2019re worrying about something that, objectively, isn\u2019t as bad as the stereotype.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week, my mom complained that she\u2019s starting to smell \u201clike an old person\u201d. She had grabbed her favorite sweater and draped it over herself at the movie theater. \u201cIt smelled like my grandmother,\u201d she said, almost whispering. \u201cI thought someone must have borrowed the jacket. But it was just me.\u201d My mom, who\u2019s in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[7984,364,2337,18054,1104],"class_list":{"0":"post-52089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-older","9":"tag-people","10":"tag-person","11":"tag-smell","12":"tag-truth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Can you do anything about the odor?<\/h2>\n