What is the first thing you grab in the morning? Most people would answer, a cup of freshly brewed coffee. The rich aroma and pleasant taste set the morning right and keep you going. But what happens you consume it a lot? People have complained that when they drink too much coffee they can smell it in their urine. Is the link between coffee and body odor?
You must be curious to know whether there are any side effects of consuming too much coffee. Don’t worry, we got you covered! In this article we’ll have a detailed conversation about coffee and body odor and how you can deal with it.
Does Coffee Cause Body Odor?
Does coffee contribute to body odor? The answer is yes, it does. When research was done in the UK by the University of Portsmouth, the first thing they discovered was the coffee and body odor relation. However, there was no concrete proof at that time but things have changed now. We have a scientific reason behind this claim as well.
How Does Coffee Cause Body Odor?
Caffeine, as a stimulant, helps your body to awaken by stimulating areas of your brain. People consume it in the early hours to give themselves an extra kick. On the other hand, caffeine affects more than just your brain. It travels across your body and, goes into many glands, and alters their functions.
When bacteria, found on our skin, come into contact with our sweat we may experience body odor. According to the experts, when you sweat, the water, fat, and salts mix with this bacteria and, can cause a bad odor. And certain foods/ spices we eat exacerbate this foul smell and make us feel awkward all the time.
Furthermore, caffeine is also responsible for the activation of several nerves. Your sweat glands are one of those areas and it particularly targets your apocrine sweat glands. Hence, we can relate this with coffee and body odor because caffeinated drinks such as tea and coffee increase the activity of apocrine sweat glands. As a result, if you’re sweating more, you are more likely to have body odor.
Additionally, apocrine glands lie in the groin and armpit region. All these sweat glands give off fatty sweat that the odor-causing bacteria consume in return. Furthermore, these odor-causing bacteria then release the smell that many people complain about. You are feeding these little bacteria when you are taking high amount of caffeine.
Coffee And Body Odor: What is Coffee Breath?
A large intake of coffee contributes to bad breath. It is not the only thing that causes it, though accelerates the process. Caffeine acts as a catalyst and can cause bad breath. Moreover, caffeine causes dehydration in the body and triggers your kidneys to draw out more fluid. Consequently, when you are dehydrated, your body instinctively compensates by absorbing extra water from non-essential organs in order to perform necessary functions.
Also, it leads to the training of saliva from your mouth. In return, your mouth is exposed to the bacteria residing there and without any salivary control they can cause bad breath. However, the tannins in coffee make the issue even worse.
On the other hand, tannins also improve the flavor of coffee, they attach proteins with saliva. This binding mechanism inhibits saliva from caring for and cleansing the oral cavity, allowing odors to form more easily.
How Much Caffeine Should You Consume?
The FDA considers “moderate” caffeine intake to be 100-200 mgs per day, but the Experts consider 400 mgs to be safe for healthy people. But there’s a catch. In any case, you cannot surpass 500 mgs.
Furthermore, certain individuals are more susceptible to the side effects of caffeine, particularly those who do not consume it on a daily basis. There are other factors that play an important role in your coffee intake like weight, sex, and your body endurance. That’s why you will see many of your colleagues gulping down many cups while you cannot bear more than two cups of coffee. Well, you should consume the amount you are comfortable with.
How To Deal With Body Odor and Minimize it?
Now that we know how coffee causes body odor and the factors that can make it worse. Let’s have a look at how you can deal with the bad odor in the most effective manner.
Limit the Intake
Limiting the consumption is in your control if anything harms you or gives bad side effects. The best solution is that you make your own coffee and keep note of the caffeine that is going in as it will help you stay conscious. Also, you will have a clear idea about how much caffeine is lurking in your coffee and how much should be taken in a day.
Rubbing Alcohol
Slurp! if you have taken too much caffeine and now your armpits are sweating a lot. Grab the alcohol and rub it on that particular area. Rubbing alcohol is an antimicrobial that kills odor-causing microorganisms and prevents them from producing fragrance.
Green Tea Extract
Green tea extract is an antimicrobial that is more organic than packaged deodorant. Thus, use green tea extract as a deodorant.
Eat Something with Coffee
Coffee sweats are caused by your body’s metabolism of caffeine. Including a food buffer with coffee can limit caffeine digestion while decreasing coffee sweating.
Wash
Make a habit to wash off your armpits, groin and feet with antibacterial soap at least twice a day. It will help you get rid of bad smell for sometime.
Conclusion
Coffee and body odors are not a pleasant combination and luckily we have the got right solutions for it. If you know how to handle coffee odor you can still gulp down your favorite coffee and know the drill to minimize the odor.
We have discussed everything in detail so head over if you have any questions.
