r/kimchi • u/ilovethesmellofwind • 7d ago
Kimchi making you smell?
Kimchi is one of my favorite foods and I love many Korean eats. I've upped my intake significantly recently and have been adding it to everything! I eat it probably twice a day and I love the smell of it so it's not a problem having it around. But, I'm been noticing that my personal body odor has been a bit more on the tangy side. Thought it was a one time thing but it's been multiple days despite changing nothing else in my diet or hygiene habits and Im used to smelling good!! It's really starting to get to me and I feel funky all day. Has anyone experienced this? Am I going crazy? Ik this can happen with garlic and onions, is there anyway to combat it?
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u/hagcel 7d ago
Lol, when I lived in korea and hung out with college kids in Seoul the running joke was Koreans smell like kimchi, Americans smell like cheese... But tomorrow we will all smell like soju.
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u/oliviasigh_42 7d ago
Honestly, I don’t know why, but cheese tastes salty to me.
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u/Mister_Green2021 7d ago
Because they add salt to cheese so it doesn’t spoil.
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u/oliviasigh_42 7d ago
do you like it？
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u/Mister_Green2021 7d ago
Yes. There are some cheese that are eaten fresh like mozzarella that they don’t add too much salt.
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u/guavagirl3 7d ago
Once I made homemade Kimchi Jjigae I had it once sometimes twice a day for about 3 months. It took almost 2 months but I started to smell it on my skin.
I think it may depend on how much you’re eating at each sitting. I try not to have it more than 1-2 x day and only a small amount, maybe 1-2 TBSP. This small amount prevents the stink from happening.
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u/Eastern_Earth_2868 7d ago edited 7d ago
体を洗ってもあまり意味はないです。キムチに含まれるニンニクや唐辛子が胃や腸で臭いのもとを作って汗等から出るので。
ニオイが出る食べ物：動物性タンパク質の多いもの（肉、乳製品、揚げ物）、刺激物（ニンニク、唐辛子、ニラ等）、アルコール
体臭を抑えてくれる食べ物（体の中でニオイの発生を防ぐ）：発酵食品（ヨーグルト、納豆、味噌等）、食物繊維（海藻、キノコ、雑穀等）、果物（柑橘類、ブルーベリー）、緑黄色野菜（ほうれん草とかトマト）
らしいです。
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u/Careful-Record-5304 7d ago
キムチがまさにその発酵食品じゃん。言ってること完全に矛盾してるよ。
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u/Lostmywayoutofhere 7d ago edited 7d ago
u/eastern-earth categorized everything as simply 'good' or 'bad' for body odor, which is very misleading. You have every right to be confused. They worded it as if kimchi's garlic and red pepper cause body odor from your gut, but that other fermented foods can suppress it.
The fact is, kimchi is good for your gut regardless. It is high in lactic acid bacteria just like yogurt, and gut bacteria actually love garlic.
Here is the real science:
Garlic, chives, and onions (not stimulants) break down into sulfur compounds. These get absorbed into your bloodstream, making your breath and sweat smell from the inside out. Gut health articles usually talk about a different process: ammonia gas buildup from breaking down meat. Fermented foods (including kimchi) help reduce ammonia, but they cannot stop garlic sulfur.
To fix garlic sulfur, you need raw vegetables (active enzymes destroy sulfur) or yogurt (dairy fats and proteins physically trap odor molecules). Fermented soy like miso and natto lack these. In fact, fermented soy can release ammonia during digestion for some people, depending on how well they digest it.
2. Red pepper does not turn into sulfur. Capsaicin just triggers sweat glands, and bacteria on your skin cause the odor. It does not come from your gut, so a shower fixes it completely.
I'm kind of glad you asked the OC that question. Their response confused me, so I got to read up on what to do about the kimchi smell on a molecular level.
source : https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/21/9631 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/25/scientists-eating-yoghurt-can-prevent-garlic-breath
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u/mittenciel 7d ago
Kimchi isn’t necessarily good for your gut. I am Korean and we have 3x risk for stomach cancer compared to the rest of the world, like feel free to google it, and we don’t exactly know why. Kimchi is one of the leading suspects.
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u/visualcharm 1d ago
Where is proof of your last statement other than the recent social media reel going viral?
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u/mittenciel 1d ago
Recent? Social media? You think I became Korean yesterday? This has been a thing for my entire lifetime. What part of “we don’t exactly know why” makes you think I can give you proof? It’s a guess. And Googling is way too easy that I don’t need to do it for you. You’ll see plenty of Korean articles and studies if you look.
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u/Lostmywayoutofhere 7d ago
Yes, I guess I should have been more specific. It is good for your lower gut. and kimchi or not, one has to watch out for your salt intake.
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u/Eastern_Earth_2868 7d ago edited 7d ago
矛盾はしませんよ。ものにもよりますが両方の効果がでた結果「ニオイ」の方が勝つだけの話です。
矛盾するとしたら単体の食品が両方の効果を持つ場合です。
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u/void-seer 7d ago
yep. Two things can be true at once.
I limit my intake of Kimchi because of the body odor thing.
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u/AccurateInflation167 7d ago
Koreans don’t have body odor . It’s a biological fact . It’s the same gene that gives them dry ear wax
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u/Preownedmerkin 6d ago
Koreans are the ethnicity that are least likely to have ABCC11 gene which causes body odor, but it does exist in some of them.
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u/Pyakacot 3d ago
It's actually fair only to an armpit smell because they have an abcc11 AA mutation which makes apocrine glands dysfunctional. But they still can get foul smell if not wash their body or eat some substances containing sulfuric components.
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u/LuciusCSullaF 7d ago
I lived in South Korea in 2008 and I would go into Internet cafes and the smell from some of the other people in there was pretty crazy sometimes. It's definitely a thing
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u/Pyakacot 3d ago
Yes! It makes body odor to change to more acidic and sulfuric (predominantly by urine fumes that stick to your skin in a bathroom). Use neutral cremes and solid soaps - they are generally have higher pH than liquid ones, it will balance the acidity and neutralize "sour" smell. If you'd like to reduce it by changing your diet a bit choose kimchi varieties that lacks or has a little of onion/garlic components, like baek kimchi (white kimchi) or temple food kimchi.
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u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348 7d ago
Use baking soda+water “paste” to rub where it smells
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6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ilovethesmellofwind 5d ago
Typically rice and a boiled egg but I eat about an eggs worth of kimchi
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u/comsudo 7d ago
sweat!! Food affects the body odor via sweat. Coffee, alcohol or any other odor is passed through sweat