Do Old People Stink?

Do old people stink? Scientists found that it isn’t just old people who smell, as hormones and secretions change around age forty. To write this article, I watched dozens of You-Tube videos, read countless dot com articles which included jokes, put-downs, misinformation, scapegoating, and stereotyping with degrading photos and scary caricatures of ugly old people. With persistence, I was able to find some credible resources to address the question, do old people stink?

I remember the first time I got a whiff of this unusual scent around thirty years ago. When my older neighbor approached me to chat, I always smelled an unusual odor, no matter what clothing he wore. It wasn’t actually offensive, but a musty and greasy smell.  I assumed “Fred” stored his clothing in an antique cabinet. Then, I smelled that same odor on my mother’s pillowcase and blouses.  Even after soaking and laundering, I was not able to remove it from her bedding and clothing. Later, as a gerontologist in private practice, I have been confronted with the same smell on clients. It isn’t exactly offensive, just different. I did not assume it was “old person stink,” which is how it is described in the media.

There is a name for it, nonenal, pronounced nawn-ee-nawl’  and the National Institutes of Health describes it as  an “unpleasant, greasy, grassy, moldy or old smell.”  It has been described as smelling like an old book or a musty basement. [While people have identified older adults as smelling of urine, that is a different topic. Older adults who smell of urine may have incontinence issues.]

In 1999, Shiseido labs in Japan identified a specific substance generated by older people and they identified it as an “aging odor.” The substance forms a gas that has a characteristic smell. It accumulates around clothing collars and pillowcases, as it emerges from the neck and behind the ears.  The substance, ST Thiodimethane, is a combination of two other components, dimethyl trisulfide [DMTS] and allys mercaptan [AM].

Then in 2001, a scientific study related to nonenal was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.  I have classified the study as “anecdotal,” as there were few participants, it was conducted almost twenty years ago, and further studies are needed with more participants. The scientists investigated changes in body odor as a function of age and found a specific component that is characteristic of the body odor of middle-aged and older adults. There were 22 participants [13 males, 9 females] ages 26-85.  In older adults, they found an increase of 2- nonenal in body odor from increased lipid peroxides [hormonal changes] associated with aging (Haze, Gozu, Nakamura, Kohno, Sawano, Ohta, & Yamazaki, 2001). It means that acids and oxidative decomposition increase, causing an unpleasant and distinctive smell beginning at around age forty, especially among men.

Shiseido labs continued experimenting with “aging odor” solutions and reported in 2017 that the unsaturated aldehyde smell cannot be masked but it can be neutralized. They developed a type of “Febreeze” or ”kryptonite” for nonenal, “Harmonage Fragrance,” a deodorizing spritz that I cannot locate through any Shiseido site.

Scientists have also found that washing more and using more soap does not eliminate nonenal. However, persimmon extract eliminates “old person smell.”  Another Japanese company, Mirai Clinical Labs, produces persimmon extract products to specifically neutralize nonenal. They have developed persimmon soap, bath seltzer, spray mist, laundry soak, body wipes, body wash, and shampoo. Made with purified and natural products, they are widely available on Amazon and the Mirai Clinical websites.

More than persimmon is needed to neutralize nonenal, as the substance also adheres to clothing, bed linens, and towels. Laundry companies have jumped on the “odor elimination” bandwagon!  Products like FunkAway, Fresh Wave, OxiClean Odor Blaster, OdorKlenz Laundry Additive, Tide Odor Rescue, OUT ProWash Workwear Odor Eliminator Detergent, Odoreze, Rockin Green Funk Rock, Fresh Wave, and Active Wear Laundry Detergent should be used regularly. Clothing should be soaked and washed inside-out. Clients have told me that adding baking soda or white vinegar to laundry also neutralizes odors.

Do older people stink? Sure, and so do forty-year-olds. According to science, there may be a distinctive smell but it is not necessarily offensive. And the funky smell is NOT unique to older people, as younger people emit this odor, too, as body chemistry begins changing around forty.

References:

Dr. Charlene Brannon, Miraci Clinical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIdJFW9_kog

Haze S, Gozu Y, Nakamura S, Kohno, Y., Sawano, K., Ohta, H., & Yamazaki, K.  (2001). 2-Nonenal newly found in human body odor tends to increase with aging. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 116(4):520‐524. doi:10.1046/j.0022-202x.2001.01287.x

How do you fight elderly odor or “old people smell?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5mNYuWWQO0

Jabr, F., (2012, May 30). Scents and senescence: “Old person smell” is real, but not necessarily offensive.” Scientific American. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/old-person-smell/

Miraci Clinical: https://www.miraiclinical.com/product/deodorizing-soap-with-persimmon/