All right, no more complaining about “old people smell”—according to George Preti, it doesn’t exist.
Preti, a scent expert at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, became incensed at 2001 Japanese study concluding that the skin of people over 40 produces more chemicals with an unpleasant or greasy odor. Preti, being over 40 himself, set out to disprove that idea.
So he and his team asked a set of 25 volunteers to walk up and down the stairs until they got sweaty; then the scientists used funnels to collect the sweat of the subjects’ backs. Preti said the sweat of people over 40 had higher concentrations of a few chemicals compared to that of younger people, but the chemicals in question didn’t carry a strong smell. And, he said, he found none of the greasy-smelling chemical that the Japanese scientists found.
Why the difference in the studies? Fish, Preti says. The seafood-heavy Japanese diet could cause a buildup of unsaturated fatty acids, and other chemicals which would speed the oxidation of those acids. Of course, we won’t have to worry about that if seafood disappears, as some scientists predict.
Image: iStockphoto
July 28th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Science can’t find something that’s so obviously there… so it’s not based on sweat, it’s based on diet, and medication, and a house where the couch hasn’t been moved (or sat on) since 1974.
August 31st, 2008 at 12:18 am
its not that they smell, its the things they do and what they own, it all smells the same. smells like DEATH, i hate it.
September 14th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Actually I’m beginning to get terrified that I will start to smell like that, now that I have turned 60.
Hope someone comes up with some kind of antidote. As long as my brain works, I will continue to wash daily, keep clothes clean, change my bed regularly etc etc, but it might not be enough. HELP!
November 19th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
SORRY! YOUR TEST RESULTS ARE SO VERY WRONG! MY NOSE DOESN’T LIE!
THEY STINK! I HAVE WORKED WITH ENOUGH SENIORS TO KNOW! NO MATTER HOW CLEAN THEY ARE, OLD PEOPLE HAVE A DI-STINK-ED ODOR!
November 19th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I gotta say that it may not be their diet as much as what they put on their bodies. I live w/my father-in-law and he stinks. His house stunk when we moved in, and he leaves an awful smell in my car. Febreze helps my car and since we moved in, his house doesn’t smell as bad because I clean it regularly and keep his bedroom door closed. His bedroom and bathroom still stink and I clean them regularly as well. Their sense of smell has gone down the tubes and so they tend to pile on stuff until they can smell it. At least he does and he doesn’t even realize how awful he smells. He doesn’t smell of lots of odors just old smell. Just gross.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
They do have an odor, but I can’t quite call it though. It’s a cross between dead flesh and muskiness. Pew!
November 20th, 2008 at 12:15 am
It seems we all know the smell. Maybe, the person doing the test. HE!himself is an old guy. Hay, go change your clothes!!LOL…
November 20th, 2008 at 12:25 am
ANYWAY I SAY THEY DO (SOME) “THEY HAVE AN ODOR” SWEAT! AND THEY SAY THE DONT SWEAT! HA! YES THEY DO I WORK IN THE HEALTH CARE FIELD AND BROTHER YES THEY DO! THEY DONT REALIZE THEY STILL SWEAT! AND THEY DONT LIKE TO SHOWER OFTEN OR PUT ON DEORDERANT! AND OVER A PERIOD OF TIME THERE GLANDS OMIT OIL AND IT STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN IF NOT SCRAPPED OFF I MEAN REALLY SCRAPPED OFF WITH A SCRUBBY OR LUFFA ITS PRETTY STINKY YA’LL AND ITS REALLY,REALLY SAD THAT NO ONE HAS THE BRASS TO TELL THEM TO THERE FACE YOU ARE SWEATY AND NEED TO BE CLEANSED 2X3 TIMES A WEEK!! LIVING IN THE DESERT EVEN OR VAST ALASKA THEY SWEAT EVERYWHERE. THANK YOU
November 30th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
i think old people have weak badders and pee alittle when they cough or get up from a chair. their furniture gets some pee on it, as time goes on there more pee and the pee gets old and stinks. Old peoples house smell like old pee.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:37 am
First, unless this article is not representing his work very well (a good possibility), George Preti is not a very good scientist. Are we meant to believe that he concludes definitively that something doesn’t exist from a single null result?
Second, since when is over 4o old? When people think of old-person smells they are talking about at least 60, if not 70 and above. When people get that age they use various products that younger people don’t, like depends, dentures, and mothballs. They also have more decay in their mouth than younger people, which obviously can’t smell nice. When I get to 60 yrs, I’m just going to off myself.
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
After reading all of these comments, I laughed so hard I almost pee’d. I am turning 60 in 2 weeks. I’m looking forward to asking young friends if I have started to smell. If I have, I will take Aaron’s advice and off myself.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:46 am
I too am considering offing myself at 60 if old-people-smell takes hold. Oh, and George Preti’s results prove nothing. This research is half-hearted and old people do have the funk. I’ve smelled it. It smells like tennis balls and attics.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:11 pm
This is a BS “study”. Old people smell (not all of them) and they all have that same smell.
April 30th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Listen the reason old people or there homes have a smell is because of the urine that either comes out of the body. Gets on stuff and not cleaned properly as in nursing home or at old peoples homes where they used old cleaning products. That contained ammonia this was the number one cleaning aid for years and years also ammonia is found in urine
May 3rd, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I agree, older people (after the age of 70) have a smell that is different than younger people. I like to call it “The smell of impending death” to me, it kind of smells like Chanel No. 19. But, it’s logical.
Hormones make your body smell a certain way. Not everyone was born with the receptors to sense certain hormones by smell. Androstenone. Some people are repulsed by it, others can’t smell it at all.
I was tested. I can smell androstenone. I’ve also been in a room full of older people exercising…and there is a smell. It’s old-person smell.
Why is it so strange to believe that old-person-smell exists? Most people can tell the difference between young man sweat from young woman sweat. I can even smell when my female friends are menstruating. That hormone (or lack of hormone) comes off of them like perfume. I’ve smelled it on myself, for sure.
Old-person-smell exists, because so many people say it exists. To me, it still smells like Chanel No. 19.
May 16th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Old people do have the funk and no one I know can put their finger on where it comes from or describe it precisely. I couldn’t handle visiting my grandmother’s house. No matter how sweet she was I couldn’t think about anything but what part of her body was decaying and causing that eye-watering, stick to the roof of your mouth, make you vomit odor. I’ve worked with old people and everyone my age could smell it, it does exist. I now live in Japan and the old people here smell exactly the same as the old people in the states. Old folk funk is universal.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Here’s what some kiddies on the streets of NYC had to say about it.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid900837105?bclid=900668361&bctid=1432754106
ihateyoungpeople (dot) com
July 19th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
The posters are 100% right (forget George P he must be 80 himself) I remember this “smell”
from my grandmas back when I was a little one. Its like a sickly sweet odor, I didnt
mind it too much back then as i loved my grammy, but i did notice too that random visits to old peoples homes or apartments also had that smell. I have Googled the topic & a Japanese researcher determined that everybody secretes this Fatty Acid through our pores, think its called Palmyric acid & related to a fatty acid in macadamia nuts. After the age of 70 the secretion of this stuff through the pores goes off the charts so to speak. Its so bad that all the old persons clothes though clean will have the odor, the bedding & curtains in the room too
I think dust in the room captures this fatty acid so its in the curtains, lampshades, windows
that maybe dusty. I have my 80 yr mom in law living with us and sure enough she stinks. I have to fight to get her in the shower & sneak out her clothes to wash, she says they are clean! (Yeah, clean but stinky) My daughter helps me at shower time & I have told her that she is to tell me when my turn comes around & I will not be obnoxious & hateful like my mother in law is about people who want to help you be socially presentable
by giving you a shower. We use AXE mans liquid soap on her heavy duty version.
I have found the best success at combating this is “Oust” citrus spray, which I spray in the air, on the bedding , on the curtains etc. “Oh I wash up everynight” she tells me! “well are you an octopus who washes your back, your feet, your hair” Even the wash cloth & towel , shes done with them & they are on towel rack & emit this odor
So its 24/7 trying to keep a handle on this. Have read though on the net that “Citrusy” fragrances are the best to combat this. Japan perfume company even has a line of pricey items to combat the fatty acid smell & its citrus based, spray perfume is $120. thats right one hundred twenty bucks for an ounce. I may spend some of her SS check on a bottle of this stuff. Google “old people smell” info is out there.
September 9th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Old bodies smell because they have a different hormonal content and chemical components overall. It’s not even a bad smell, it’s a very specific smell. The skin is the main factor – old people’s skin is very differner from younger ones, even when it’s clean, it’s no longer has the same smell as it was before.