100,000,000,000 Bacteria Cohabit with You

A large man has just lent over me in an effort to reach his seat. The whiff of body odour is overpowering. We have boarded a flight out of Madrid on our way to Athens. The large man seems to be part of a connecting flight from a country not sold on the merits of deodorants. (To minimise the risk of being called a racist, I shall not mention the continent from which the interconnecting flight departed.)

If you were to study up on the latest research on our body's microbiome health (http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=ten-predictions-on-the-future-of-your-microbial-health) you may find body odour less objectionable. I read the article and it didn't work for me... for me, BO is still unpleasant... but by all means, give it a go.... read up and expand your mind and your olfactor sensors.

Here is the theory! For you to live, you need the assistance of some one hundred trillion bacteria that live on our skin, in our gut and in all body crevasses. In fact, the number of these foreign critters outnumber the cells that are us... we carry around more foreign DNA than our own. As you would expect with large numbers, there are the goodies and the baddies all trying to etch out an existence by living on the food and waste that is processed through our bodies.

If this detail is making you feel squeamish, stop reading... it is not going to get any better. But if you want a more practical self-image... keep reading... and get used to the notion that you are not a single being... you are an ecosystem composed of hundreds of thousands of different organisms. These little critters do most of the digestive work in your stomach. They break down certain foods that we digest that would be poisonous to us without their intervention. The critters that are the goodies protect us from the baddies. Some critters that are important to us also need other types of critters for them to survive. We are not the only source of survival for such critters... we need to maintain the health of a whole ecosystem for us to feel healthy.

Lets not get too academic about this. The big guy leaning over me on this flight has a healthy ecosystem existing under his armpits. His critters are feasting on his perspiration and the by-product of bacterial activity results in an odour being emitted. Two consequences follow. This big guy will not suffer any skin ailments in the area under his arms. The ecosystem of bacteria is strong and the goodies bacteria are healthy enough to withstand and attempts from any baddies to take over. The second consequence is that I have to hold my nose when he leans over. (Of course my reaction is completely off the mark... I should be complementing him on his healthy armpits.)

Now here's the squeamish part. Have you noticed that while some of your friends have bad odour, some of your friends have body odour that isn't too bad... and a small number of friends have body odour that isn't offensive at all... I hesitate to say it smells good... but its well along that spectrum. The colony of bacteria under your arm is different from the colony under my arm and different from the colony under the arm of the friend with good body odour. The article referenced above, makes the prediction that in the near future, your friend with good body odour will be in demand. Cosmetic companies will be wanting to grow cultures of his/her underarm bacteria colonies and sell them to you to put under your arm so that your colony can produce less offensive odours. Today's underarm deodorants kill the offending bacteria... but in the process kill off a range of good bacteria that protect our skin from bad bacteria. Tomorrow, we will wipe our underarms with bacteria that produce good odour but also built up our protection against skin diseases.

Here is the take out! Next time you are near a friend who smells good, say to them... you have a great colony of underarm bacteria. I wouldn't mind getting a culture from you when you have the time.

Just a thought! Hope this flight lands soon. I need some fresh air.