While some extra deodorant swipes can feel like a necessity during these sweltering temps, there’s one group that’s not really sweating it.
Social media users are using the heat wave as a chance to point out many Asians simply don’t smell. According to experts, there’s actually a gene mutation behind it.
Between 80 and 95% of East Asians have a dysfunction of the ABCCII gene, which is linked to smelly pits, a number of studies say. And this means their bodies don’t release the same acidic odor smell the rest of the population does when exposed to hot temperatures and perspiration.
“It’s just going to be a lot less pungent and a lot less prevalent,” Dr. Madalyn Nguyen, an Oregon-based dermatologist, said of those with East Asian ancestry, including herself. “So we can go a little bit longer without needing to mask our body odor.”
With the heat kicking in, body odor has been on many people’s minds. Dermatologist Heather Kornmehl posted an Instagram video earlier this month explaining how “the potential for stinky armpits is genetically determined.” The video went viral with more than 4 million views.
Another TikTok video shared Thursday by dermatologist Dr. Daniel Sugai pokes fun at the empty experience of “asking your East Asian friend what’s their fav deodorant.”
Nguyen explained that body odor is primarily associated with apocrine sweat glands, found in the armpit and groin areas. For those without the mutation in the ABCC11 gene, protein in those sweat glands helps transport fatty compounds, or lipids, from the cell into the sweat. The bacteria on the skin breaks down those lipids in the oilier, thicker sweat to produce body odor. But for those with the mutation, the protein doesn’t function that way.
“That transporter doesn’t work. And we don’t have those same lipids that cross into the earwax and into the sweat,” Nguyen explained of East Asians, adding that a dysfunctional ABCC11 gene is also connected to drier, less goopy earwax. “So less of that means less body odor, and also translates to dry earwax.”
While an overwhelming amount of East Asians have the mutation, it is present in only up to 3% of European and African populations, according to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Among East Asians, Koreans have the highest prevalence of the mutation, but Chinese, Vietnamese and others also tend to have the dysfunction of the gene.
“I’m not talking about modern East Asia. I’m talking about East Asia from tens of thousands of years ago, which includes Southeast Asians,” Nguyen said. “That can also be tracked to Native Americans as well, because tens of thousands of years ago they migrated from East Asia. So many Native Americans also have this loss of function gene.”
So far, there isn’t a definitive explanation for why the mutation is so common among East Asians. However, the 2010 study floated the possibility that, with a historically “more pronounced tradition of cleanliness and personal hygiene,” people with less body odor may have been preferred as mates, resulting in the larger population with the dysfunction of the gene.
“We evolve to manifest more of certain traits depending on whatever our environment is,” Nguyen said. “So Scandinavian people are much lighter than people who live near the equator. And it’s because people who live near the equator needed to create more melanin to protect their skin.”
This isn’t to say that those with the mutation can skip showers, Nguyen said, as they still secrete substances from the apocrine glands. These sweat glands are in part activated by compounds called catecholamines, which are secreted in times of stress.
From a dermatological standpoint, body odor isn’t an unhealthy thing, either, Nguyen said. But for those concerned about the smell, she actually doesn’t recommend deodorant as it fails to do much aside from adding a perfume scent to the B.O.
“You can use a benzoyl peroxide wash in your armpits,” she said. “The trick is leaving it on for like a minute or two before washing it off. And that just decreases the surface bacteria that breaks down the lipids in your sweat.”
Applying antiperspirant to dry armpits at night can also help, Nguyen said.
“It actually gets into those sweat glands rather than being washed out by the sweat that’s already in them,” she explained.
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