Does cancer have a smell? The link between disease and body odor

According to scientists, some diseases can be recognized by the specific smell. Kidney and liver diseases emit an ammonia smell. Diabetes has a specific smell, sulphur, sweet and sour smell, and dental diseases too. But do people smell cancer?

Nutritionist and therapist, Natalia Iazurenko, explained to the Daily Mail that sick people (regardless of what disease they are suffering from) smell sick because their skin acts as a “filter” through unnecessary substances from the body are removed.

Sometimes a person’s sweat smells like grapes. This is often accompanied by increased sweating. Such symptoms can indicate endocrine disorders, lack of vitamins D and B, infectious diseases of the lungs.

Body odors can be considered a sign of illness

The smell of sweat, or bad breath in the morning, can appear at any age, regardless of the state of health. These are normal, as long as they are not permanent and disappear when washed.

However, some body odors can indicate a health problem. Here’s when they’re a problem and when they’re not.

Bad breath does not necessarily mean a medical problem. This is very common for many people, especially in the morning.

“Bad breath is usually caused by bacteria on the teeth and tongue,” explained Dr. Madeleine S. Deming, an expert in internal medicine at the NIH Clinical Center, according to newsinhealth.nih.gov.

Bad breath that occurs in the morning is caused by the accumulation of bacteria during the night, which produces a sulphurous smell, similar to onions or rotten eggs. However, it disappears when the individual brushes their teeth.

However, the problem arises when the smell does not disappear after washing the skin and using mouthwash. This can be caused either by tooth decay (usually or gum disease) or by other health problems, such as sinus, throat or lung infections. In this case, it is important to consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Also, in the case of diabetes, bad breath, similar to the smell of rotten fruit, is a sign that the disease is not under control.

Often, people may have bad breath due to organic insufficiency. A person with kidney failure may have breath that smells of ammonia or urine. Severe liver disease can smell like mold or garlic and rotten eggs.

Therefore, if you notice bad breath, go to the dentist to find out if you have a dental problem, and do a complete set of analyzes to eliminate any other reason for the unpleasant smell of the breath.

Does cancer have a smell?

The body produces chemicals as a result of normal metabolism, but cancer cells metabolize in a different way, release a variety of specific chemicals and cause a specific smell”, scientists say. support, according to realitatea.net.

Therefore, in the case of cancer patients, who are in advanced stages of the disease, the smell is one that can be compared to rancid meat. But this can only be seen in rare cases, and there are no documents to show that cancer patients emit a specific smell, which can be detected by the human nose.

However, the evidence that exists so far, cancer does not have a specific smell that can be detected by the human nose. At least not in the early stages.

However, although people cannot smell cancer, the disease leaves biomarkers or other olfactory signatures in the human body and its secretions. Cancer cells produce and release odors that doctors call volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

In 2016, the researchers concluded that animals, especially dogs, can detect several types of cancer, based on the volatile organic compounds they see.

Dogs can smell cancer

According to various research studies, dogs have detected many types of cancer, based on their unique smell, including: melanoma, lung cancer, ovarian and prostate cancer and breast cancer.