• Question: what exactly is B.O???

    Asked by caveof to Hywel, Joseph, Patience, Poonam, Rachael on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joseph Cook

      Joseph Cook answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      I think body odour results from bacteria growing on your body or clothes. I think the bacteria like your sweat, which is why you can end up smelling bad if you get very sweaty. But washing with soap solves the problem before it is noticeable. If you don’t wash your body or your clothes often enough, then the bacteria build up and the smell is stonger.

    • Photo: Poonam Kaushik

      Poonam Kaushik answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Biological oxygen!

    • Photo: Dr Hywel Jones

      Dr Hywel Jones answered on 24 Jun 2010:

      I’m no biologist but I think BO is the smell caused by the bacteria that like to live on our skin in warm damp places. The process they use to live result in the emission of gases which result in BO. Different people have different BO because we have different types of sweat (partly due to diet and partly due to our genes) and are host to different bacteria.
      Keeping the bacteria levels to a minimum gets rid of the smell temporarily (hence why we wash ourselves and our clothes).

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