Clothes Influence Odor During and After Your Workout

What we wear during a workout will directly influence how we smell during and after we're finished. 

Recent findings published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology found that cotton clothes are likely to smell fresher after intense exercise than polyester pieces.

For the recent study, investigators collected t-shirts from 26 healthy individuals who participated in an intensive, hour-long spinning session and incubated the shirts for 28 hours before researchers inspected them. They also investigated the taxonomy of the bacteria on the shirts, and in the axillaries.

"They are known for their enzymatic potential to transform long-chain fatty acids, hormones and amino acids into smaller-volatile-compounds, which have a typical malodor," said lead study author Chris Callewaert of Ghent University, Belgium, in a news release.

Staphylococci, which inhabits both axillary skin and adjacent textiles (the latter with much less diversity), creates a normal, non-malodorous body odor, he added. "The micrococci are able to grow better on polyester."

However, corynebacteria are the main causes of bad odors in armpit areas, and many textiles, these anaerobes often fail to grow in the fabrics, resulting in the trapping of unpleasant odor.

As body order (BO) remains a taboo topic in the business world and throughout society in general, researchers continue to search for the best products that can prevent the smell.

Wearing cotton clothes will help prevent the issue somewhat, according to researchers. However, the ultimate objective is to solve the problem of body odor by transplanting microbes from non-malodorous relatives to those afflicted.

Furthermore, Callewaert said it's not recommended to overuse antiperspirants. "That is what I have heard from people with BO-the more they use it, the worse it eventually got."