There was a recent thread that touched upon race. A few people said that different races have different smells. This raised my eyebrows since I had thought this belief had been rejected as scientifically invalid and possibly racist. Now, I am not accusing anyone of being racist and in no way did the posts even suggest racist motives. Being of the mind that I am, I wondered if there was any science out there that supports the idea of different odors for different races. I also wondered if this concept had been rejected due to the history of some people proposing it for racist motives and not due to any available science.
After spending some hours searching various sites – New York Times, pubmed, most prominently – and googling the heck of out numerous keywords, I came up with surprisingly little. Based on what I’ve found, I feel confident in saying: genetics probably plays some role in the odors individuals emit; different races could possibly maybe smell different, but I have no idea; genetics do play some role in how individuals perceive odors; diet and cultural practices can affect an individual’s odor; cultural upbringing can affect how some odors are perceived. (Please notice the copious use of modifiers.)
Below you will find the relevant articles and studies that I’ve found.
If you want to play along, please keep this in mind: I’m not interested in your opinion on whether different races have different odors. I don’t care if your black roommate smells different from your white roommate, or your if your Greek friend smells better than your Danish friend – that isn’t science. Post links to scientific studies or links to articles on legitimate and respected news sites that reference scientific studies. And please, keep things impersonal.
So, here comes the research!
Japanese Scientists Identify Ear Wax Gene (link goes to a New York Times story)
This one deals with wet and dry ear wax. Dry ear wax is found predominantly in Han Chinese (the main ethnic group in China) and Koreans, and also common in Native Americans. Ear wax is determined by a single gene and, according to the authors, “earwax type and armpit odor are correlated.” People with dry ear wax sweat less and theoretically have less odor (though not all sweat has an odor). This seems to be speculation on the authors’ part (they only studied earwax), and the study says nothing about whether the odors of dry earwax people would be different from wet earwax people. Chalk this one up as “possible ethnic differences, but needs more research.”
Here’s the original study:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum
I have found references to the book Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell by Constance Classen, David Howes & Anthony Synnott that suggest that the authors dismiss the question of racial odors as being socially constructed. If you have the book, the relevant pages would start at p165. I’m assuming (or hoping) that they would cite their sources for such a statement.
Aside from fleeting references dismissing the concept of racial odors, I have found no other articles or studies. If you can find any, please post.
Individual and gender fingerprints in human body odour
This study found that individuals have certain components of body odor that remain consistent over time – much like a fingerprint. It seems reasonable to expect genetics to play a role in this, but whether or not the components are correlated to race or ethnicity is anyone’s guess.
Genetic variation in a human odorant receptor alters odour perception
This one shows how a genetic variation in odor receptors can result in differences in smell. “For instance, androstenone (5alpha-androst-16-en-3-one), an odorous steroid derived from testosterone, is variously perceived by different individuals as offensive ("sweaty, urinous"), pleasant ("sweet, floral") or odourless.” It doesn’t saying anything about who was tested and whether the variations are linked to certain ethnicities. Perhaps this is why some people love Kouros and others don’t.
The effect of meat consumption on body odor attractiveness
Here’s one reason to go easy on the meat
. This study found that the odors of men on a “nonmeat diet was judged as significantly more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense” than those on a meat diet. Of course, there are other foods that affect odor, such as garlic, so let’s not turn this into an argument over the merits of one diet over another. Me? I’m sticking with Twinkies and beer.
Elephants Classify Human Ethnic Groups by Odor and Garment Color
The link goes to an article in Science Daily about how elephants can distinguish between two different ethnic groups – one of which has a history of hunting elephants while the other does not. According to the researchers (found in the full study, below), “As well as possible differences in pheromonal profile, the diets of Maasai and Kamba peoples differ strikingly. Maasai consume substantial amounts of milk and occasionally cattle blood and meat, whereas Kamba diet mainly comprises meat, vegetables and maize meal. These dietary differences might be reflected in the chemical composition of body odor. Furthermore, the Maasai are pastoralists, so odors of cattle permeate their villages, and they use ochre and sheep fat in body decoration, unlike the agricultural Kamba.” To me, this points to cultural practices and not genetic differences.
Here’s the full study:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/psychology/people/personal/rwb/publications/2007%20Bates%20et%20al%20maasai%20CB.pdf
Color Coded
I hesitated to include this since it’s not science. It’s a Chandler Burr article in the New York Times about how cultural tastes affect fragrance sells. It seems reasonable to expect people would like odors that they were exposed to since birth. If someone could bottle the odor of fried catfish, I’d wear it everyday
.
Pleasant odors perceived the same by different cultures
Finally, something suggesting similarity. From the article: "Our findings show that the way we perceive smells is at least partially hard-wired in the brain," Sobel said. "Although there is a certain amount of flexibility, and our life experience certainly influences our perception of smell, a large part of our sense of whether an odor is pleasant or unpleasant is due to a real order in the physical world.”
Well, that’s probably more than enough for now. Any other studies that you know of?
After spending some hours searching various sites – New York Times, pubmed, most prominently – and googling the heck of out numerous keywords, I came up with surprisingly little. Based on what I’ve found, I feel confident in saying: genetics probably plays some role in the odors individuals emit; different races could possibly maybe smell different, but I have no idea; genetics do play some role in how individuals perceive odors; diet and cultural practices can affect an individual’s odor; cultural upbringing can affect how some odors are perceived. (Please notice the copious use of modifiers.)
Below you will find the relevant articles and studies that I’ve found.
If you want to play along, please keep this in mind: I’m not interested in your opinion on whether different races have different odors. I don’t care if your black roommate smells different from your white roommate, or your if your Greek friend smells better than your Danish friend – that isn’t science. Post links to scientific studies or links to articles on legitimate and respected news sites that reference scientific studies. And please, keep things impersonal.
So, here comes the research!
Japanese Scientists Identify Ear Wax Gene (link goes to a New York Times story)
This one deals with wet and dry ear wax. Dry ear wax is found predominantly in Han Chinese (the main ethnic group in China) and Koreans, and also common in Native Americans. Ear wax is determined by a single gene and, according to the authors, “earwax type and armpit odor are correlated.” People with dry ear wax sweat less and theoretically have less odor (though not all sweat has an odor). This seems to be speculation on the authors’ part (they only studied earwax), and the study says nothing about whether the odors of dry earwax people would be different from wet earwax people. Chalk this one up as “possible ethnic differences, but needs more research.”
Here’s the original study:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum
I have found references to the book Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell by Constance Classen, David Howes & Anthony Synnott that suggest that the authors dismiss the question of racial odors as being socially constructed. If you have the book, the relevant pages would start at p165. I’m assuming (or hoping) that they would cite their sources for such a statement.
Aside from fleeting references dismissing the concept of racial odors, I have found no other articles or studies. If you can find any, please post.
Individual and gender fingerprints in human body odour
This study found that individuals have certain components of body odor that remain consistent over time – much like a fingerprint. It seems reasonable to expect genetics to play a role in this, but whether or not the components are correlated to race or ethnicity is anyone’s guess.
Genetic variation in a human odorant receptor alters odour perception
This one shows how a genetic variation in odor receptors can result in differences in smell. “For instance, androstenone (5alpha-androst-16-en-3-one), an odorous steroid derived from testosterone, is variously perceived by different individuals as offensive ("sweaty, urinous"), pleasant ("sweet, floral") or odourless.” It doesn’t saying anything about who was tested and whether the variations are linked to certain ethnicities. Perhaps this is why some people love Kouros and others don’t.
The effect of meat consumption on body odor attractiveness
Here’s one reason to go easy on the meat
. This study found that the odors of men on a “nonmeat diet was judged as significantly more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense” than those on a meat diet. Of course, there are other foods that affect odor, such as garlic, so let’s not turn this into an argument over the merits of one diet over another. Me? I’m sticking with Twinkies and beer.Elephants Classify Human Ethnic Groups by Odor and Garment Color
The link goes to an article in Science Daily about how elephants can distinguish between two different ethnic groups – one of which has a history of hunting elephants while the other does not. According to the researchers (found in the full study, below), “As well as possible differences in pheromonal profile, the diets of Maasai and Kamba peoples differ strikingly. Maasai consume substantial amounts of milk and occasionally cattle blood and meat, whereas Kamba diet mainly comprises meat, vegetables and maize meal. These dietary differences might be reflected in the chemical composition of body odor. Furthermore, the Maasai are pastoralists, so odors of cattle permeate their villages, and they use ochre and sheep fat in body decoration, unlike the agricultural Kamba.” To me, this points to cultural practices and not genetic differences.
Here’s the full study:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/psychology/people/personal/rwb/publications/2007%20Bates%20et%20al%20maasai%20CB.pdf
Color Coded
I hesitated to include this since it’s not science. It’s a Chandler Burr article in the New York Times about how cultural tastes affect fragrance sells. It seems reasonable to expect people would like odors that they were exposed to since birth. If someone could bottle the odor of fried catfish, I’d wear it everyday
.Pleasant odors perceived the same by different cultures
Finally, something suggesting similarity. From the article: "Our findings show that the way we perceive smells is at least partially hard-wired in the brain," Sobel said. "Although there is a certain amount of flexibility, and our life experience certainly influences our perception of smell, a large part of our sense of whether an odor is pleasant or unpleasant is due to a real order in the physical world.”
Well, that’s probably more than enough for now. Any other studies that you know of?
