Can Smelling Reveal Sickness?

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A study from the Karolinska Institute reveals that an individual's smell can tell if there's something wrong with his or her body, CNN reports.

According to the news outlet, people have an "odorprint" that is unique to an individual and may reveal if he or she is sick or not. Different conditions emanate different body odors, and though subtle, can say so much about your body's condition.

Mat Olsson, an experimental psychologist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, said as quoted by CNN, "Some diseases result in a characteristic odor emanating from different sources on the body of a sick individual."

He also said that people who usually have a more "aversive" body odor are sicker than those who don't. To test this theory, Olsson and his team from Karolinska Institue conducted a smelling test.

With a team of eight volunteers as subjects, the researchers injected lipopolysaccaharide to them to activate their immune and inflammatory responses. With the compound injected to their bodies, the researchers collected the T-shirts worn by the volunteers, which were then smelled by a group of 40 trained judges.

The researchers found out that the subjects, who when injected with lipopolysaccharide "begun to behave as if they were sick," have a fouler odor. The results, according to Olsson, prove his theory that people who are sick smell differently that those who are not.

Olsson also discussed the concept of disgust and how it plays a vital role in humans to combat sickness. According to the researchers, the innate reflex of people to veer away from foul smells is your body warning you of the danger that you might contract.

"Emotional disgust is there to keep us healthy," Olsson revealed.

Meanwhile, a 2011 study published in the journal of Sensors, via Medical Daily, reveals that certain diseases have unique smells. For example, a type of tuberculosis called scrofula can make a person smell like stale beer while those with yellow fever can smell like a butcher's shop. CNN also adds that people with typhoid fever smell like baked bread while diabetics smell like rotten apples.

Besides body odor, Olsson has been exploring the smell of urine and breath to show if these can also give warning signs if someone is sick. However, he warns that a smelly breath or urine may not always be because of sickness but due to an individual's diet.

"We saw this inflammation process affected the smell of urine as well, and breath is a good indicator of some diseases," Olsson said per CNN. "People should be able to detect when someone is contagious."