Body odour of Non-vegetarians

08/07/2008

Maneka Gandhi

I will not sit at a table with dead bodies or people eating them. By now this is so well known that internal airlines never even ask what meal preference I have and no stranger sitting next to me orders meat . I cannot bear the smell or the look of the meat. I cannot bear the smell of the person who eats it. I am not the only one who believes that vegetarians and non vegetarians have a different smell. The smell of meat oozes through the pores and becomes a rich rancid sweat which fouls the air around it as soon as the temperature rises. I suppose people who do not eat garlic and onions feel the same way about the odour of people who do.

Do vegetarians really smell better ? News from the world of science.Anthropologists in the Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Czech Republic. Czech Republic decided in 2006 to study the effects of diet on body odour “ attractiveness”. More specifically, they wanted to find out if women prefer the body odour of men fed a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian diet. The result ? The researchers J Havlicek and P Lenochova found that women judged the body odour of men fed a vegetarian diet to be "significantly more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense".
This is what their published study précis on Medline says “ Axillary body odor is individually specific and potentially a rich source of information about its producer. Odor individuality partly results from genetic individuality, but the influence of ecological factors such as eating habits are another main source of odor variability. We tested the effect of red meat consumption on body odor attractiveness. Seventeen male odor donors were on "meat" or "nonmeat" diet for 2 weeks wearing axillary pads to collect body odor during the final 24 hours of the diet. Fresh odor samples were assessed for their pleasantness, attractiveness, masculinity, and intensity by 30 women. We repeated the same procedure a month later with the same odor donors, each on the opposite diet than before. Results of repeated measures analysis of variance showed that the odor of donors when on the nonmeat diet was judged as significantly more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense. This suggests that red meat consumption has a negative impact on perceived body odor.”
After all – if you eat something that you cannot eat raw because it stinks , what do you expect the outcome to be ? While an apple of peas or grain can be directly taken off the plant and eaten , can you wring a chicken’s neck and then bite into it ? If you could then why does meat take so long to cook and so many spices and herbs to hide the taste ? Even the thickest skinned vegetables be eating after simply steaming with no seasoning – can you do the same with meat ?
You are what you eat, in more ways than one. your food affects your body greatly, from the energy you get, to your mood, to the smell your body produces. To test this concept ,eat a piece of raw garlic, wait a few hours and gauge the resulting odors emanating from inside and outside your body.
Moving on to a simple vegetarian vs. non-vegetarian example, heat up your oven to 98.6 degrees and place a tomato and piece of meat on it. Check back in a few hours to compare the rate of decay and the resulting smells. If it smells horrible in the open do you think it will smell less horrible inside your body . After all meat and blood decays very fast wherever it is.
Why does the human not eat non vegetarian animals – not because it is difficult to catch them . For centuries catching, herding and killing has been simple. It is because their meat stinks. The meat of the herbivore is, in comparison, far more edible , smellwise. Even the smell of the pig’s meat , an animal that the pork industry feeds nothing but decaying vegetable matter, tastes better. If the tiger’s meat stinks can you imagine the stench that your flesh emits ?
Informal polls and interviews generally result in the concession that when it comes to body odors, vegetarians usually win out. Across the Net there are thousands of views by people on the link between the smell of the body and food “ My friend has quite strong body odor, but after she became full vegan, the smell has got lighter. At least when I sit next to her, I feel more comfortable” “ The first time I reacted to smell was in a public bus. It was a very hot afternoon, I was in an air-con bus. A man boarded the bus and his body was full of perspiration. He stood next to my seat and raised his hand to hold the hanger of the bus. I nearly fainted from the smell of his body which smelt of mutton. As the smell was really strong, I endured it for only about 3 stops, then got off of the bus and waited for the next one.” “If one is sensitive to smell, it is really difficult for him/her to live with a non vegetarian person. One has to endure the smell from the meat during washing & cooking along with the smell on the person.” “ I've preferred vegetarian women for sharing very intimate relations, as their odor and taste tend to be much more appealing. "
Last year , on the Howard Stern TV talk show, he had a guest who claimed he could always smell the difference between vegetarian women and carnivores. They brought out six or seven women and this guest proceeded to pick out the three vegetarians among them solely by "smelling them."
The smell that a person has often affects their future. Do you think that someone with an offensive odour would not be shunned at work or even be given the job at any interview. I avoid , as most people do , people who smell strongly – and I have yet to come across a vegetarian who does that, even if they are curry eaters !
if you're one of those that is still thinking about whether to go vegetarian ... Do it because you will smell better. Do it because knowing that will boost your confidence and self-esteem. Do it for someone you love.

To join the animal welfare movement contact gandhim@nic.in

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