It's not their fault! Teens can't smell sweat

File photo: Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark tested dozens of common odours on 410 people aged under 50. PICTURE: THOMAS HOLDER

File photo: Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark tested dozens of common odours on 410 people aged under 50. PICTURE: THOMAS HOLDER

Published Jan 23, 2017

Share

London - It is a truth that the parents of many teenagers will recognise.

Adolescents are less likely to notice the smell of sweat, cigarette smoke and soap, according to a study.

But youngsters – so often content to live in fetid bedrooms with overflowing washing baskets – have quite sensitive noses when it comes to picking up the scent of junk food and ketchup.

Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark tested dozens of common odours on 410 people aged under 50.

While nearly every participant was able to detect the overpowering smell of things such as petrol, coffee and fish, a generational gap opened up on many others.

The adults had developed a sense of smell for herbs and spices and basic foods such as bread and lemon. And they were also more likely to recognise less pleasant smells than the 172 participants aged between 12 and 18.

Fourteen percent of youngsters could not recognise sweat and 10 percent failed to identify cigarette smoke while grown-ups scored 92 and 97 percent respectively. Adults also had the edge on detecting soap (87 percent v 84 percent).

But children came into their own when asked to pick out cola (81 percent v 72 percent), ketchup (82 v 72), biscuits (72 v 63), candyfloss (64 v 39), fruit gums (61 v 51), marshmallow (58 v 32) and Mars Bars (54 v 31). The study – published in the journal Chemical Senses – provides a possible explanation for why teenagers are seemingly immune to the smell in their rooms.

It says youngsters may need to become accustomed to odours over many years before they begin to register prominently.

Lead author Alexander Fjaelstad – assistant lecturer at the university’s Flavour Institute – said: "Our findings in adolescents are in line with the hypothesis that children may lack odour-specific knowledge which accumulates throughout life.

"Though odours are potent triggers of memories from as far back as the first decade of life, the ability to name odours is an acquired skill that takes years to master."

Daily Mail

Related Topics: