Your Earwax Odor May Reveal Lots of Information About You
Posted on February 15, 2014
Scientists from the Monell Center have discovered that earwax odor may contain lots of information about humans. The medical term for earwax is cerumen. Cerumen is a mixture of secretions from sweat glands with fatty materials secreted from sebaceous glands. The scientists say it can have one of two physical types: a wet yellow-brown wax or a dry white wax. The researchers also discovered that the gene ABCC11 is related both to underarm odor production and to whether a person has wet or dry earwax.
The scientists, led by study senior author George Preti, PhD, an organic chemist at Monell, examined earwax from 16 men, eight Caucasian and eight of East Asian descent. They placed earwax samples from each of the men into a vial and heated it up. An absorbent device captured the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that were released into the air when the earwax was heated. The study found men of different ethnicities have different types of earwax VOCs.
The scientists say a person's ethnicity can be determined by their earwax. Earwax can also be used to identify the diseases maple syrup urine disease and alkaptonuria. In the future scientists believe earwax could also reveal what you eat and where you have been.
Preti says, "Odors in earwax may be able to tell us what a person has eaten and where they have been. Earwax is a neglected body secretion whose potential as an information source has yet to be explored."
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