4 ms·
The article mentions that dry earwax is found in Asians, in comparison to the sticky form in Westerners. It does not mention the fascinating detail that this di
by mallomarmeasle 8y ago
The article mentions that dry earwax is found in Asians, in comparison to the sticky form in Westerners. It does not mention the fascinating detail that this difference is determined by a single gene, which also influences underarm odor.
http://udel.edu/~mcdonald/mythearwax.html http://udel.edu/~mcdonald/mythearwax.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABCC11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABCC11
- ocfnash 8y agoAnd thus obeys good old Mendelian inheritance rules perfectly!
- netheril96 8y agoBecause of this gene more than 95% of Chinese have very little body odor. Consequently, Chinese regard those with heavy body odor as ill, and name the illness 狐臭 ("fox stink" by transliteration). Those with heavy body odor are shamed by their peers. Few of Chinese know that almost everyone outside China, Korea and Japan shares this "illness", and deals with it daily with deodorants.
- z2 8y agoThere are business implications too -- I remember an article years ago about Unilever or some similar company's ambitions to enter a virtually untapped Chinese deodorant market. I just tried to find what happened, and it seems that didn't work out: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/business/china-consumers-deodorant.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/business/china-consumers-...
- PakG1 8y agoI wonder what other factors can contribute to the matter. Korean guy here. I swear that a decade ago, I would not get significantly stinky as I got sweaty. These days, I am totally stinky after a basketball game. My feet are so stinky after a day in shoes. My armpits are crazy stinky after a day of work, they totally were not this stinky a few years ago. Yes, I do not have conclusive data on the matter. It's all anecdotal and non-scientific. But I swear it's true. I swear it.
- netheril96 8y agoHow old are you? I heard (I am not sure) that the dominant allele of this gene (the stinky one) only shows its effect after teenage years.
- PakG1 8y agoJust hit 36. So... a decade ago, I was 26?
- netheril96 8y agoWell, my hypothesis is wrong then.
- DoctorOetker 8y agoup till now, reading about the dry vs wet earwax, I had always understood the smell to be determined by the type of bacteria feeding on urea in the sweat. The urea contains chemical energy, but is expelled nonetheless by the human body to get rid of the nitrogen. I also clearly remember knowing about this mechanism and reading on practically all the deodorant bottles (perhaps 5 years ago) brand or no brand that it contained perfume, other things and ... urea! so basically pretty smell that evaporates over time, while feeding the stinking bacteria so you'd spray again. Then I noticed urea dissappearing from the deodorant bottles. According to this theory the smell of sweat is really determined by the breakdown products the bacteria release, so that would imply killing the current colony and applying an odorless colony. Perhaps people with smelly sweat are just alternating faster between colonies by having periods of working out, and periods of not working out which causes the occasional good colony to die and get replaced with a smelly one? Perhaps people who smell less have a more regular colony feeding pattern?
- mallomarmeasle 8y agoUnderarm odor is largely determined by bacterial breakdown products of fatty acids, steroids, and other aliphatics into odorous compounds such as smaller-chain acids. Urea plays no role that I know of. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochemistry_of_body_odor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochemistry_of_body_odor