The Last Word has told us why garlic makes your breath and body smell, but I want to know why the spice methi, or fresh fenugreek, has a similar, possibly stronger, effect.
鈥� Depending on their biochemical nature, volatile components of foods or their metabolic products enter the blood and exit via lungs, urine, sweat, saliva or sebum, more than most people notice. As a result, families or communities with distinctive cuisines have distinct body scents.
There are many examples beyond obvious ones such as asparagus and onion-like foods. Stewed mutton and beef give a recognisable odour to one鈥檚 urine. No doubt any self-respecting dog could identify other meats.
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Many nitrogen compounds are particularly likely to be excreted in urine or sweat. I rather like the yeasty smell of thiamine, but my wife hates it, as does a friend who once had to have daily thiamine injections. His skin would reek before the doctor even finished the injection. Some people can even guess which cheese you have eaten in the last few days; presumably the smell gets into your sebum.
Fenugreek contains a range of sulphur and nitrogen-rich aroma molecules that the body modifies and excretes in breath and sweat, but the main burnt-sugar smell comes from the lactone , whose smell we can detect even in minute concentrations.
Antony David, Watford, Hertfordshire, UK