Want to smell more attractive? Try these foods

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Many people turn to expensive perfumes to elevate their natural scent and smell more pleasant to others. But what if you could achieve that just by switching up your diet? In this episode of Science Quickly, host Kendra Pierre-Louis talks with freelance journalist Sofia Quaglia about the science behind how what we eat can subtly change how we smell—and how attractive others perceive us to be. The conversation explores surprising findings about garlic and armpit odor, counterintuitive effects of meat intake on body scent and the strange, smelly experiments behind this research. Recommended Reading: “The foods that make you smell more attractive,” by Sofia Quaglia, in BBC Future. Published online November 2, 2025 E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Vanta.
0:03.0	Security and compliance done wrong is a headache.
0:06.0	Done right, you build trust and grow faster.
0:08.0	That's Vanta.
0:09.0	For startups, Vanta acts as your first security hire,
0:13.0	using AI to get you compliant fast.
0:15.0	For enterprises, it's your AI-powered hub for compliance,
0:18.0	risk and automating workflows.
0:20.0	From startups like Cursar to
0:21.8	enterprises like Snowflake, top companies choose Vantor. Do security and compliance right. Get
0:27.1	started today at Vantor.com. For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Kendra Pia Lewis, in for Rachel Feldman.
0:53.2	In late 2024, Nicola Cocklin, the actor famous for work on Derry Girls in Bridgeton,
0:58.3	was asked about her work with Chudigabwa, who played the 15th Doctor on Doctor Who.
1:02.9	Her reply was, he's amazing and he smells amazing.
1:06.5	Look, I get it.
1:07.9	How someone smells, whether it's good or bad, can leave a long-lasting impression.
1:12.2	That's why we pour so much money into scented bath washes, deodorants, and perfumes.
1:16.8	But under all those products remains our natural scent.
1:19.8	And while factors such as illness and how often we bathe can affect that smell, so can food, according to a number of studies.
1:26.2	Freeland science journalist Sophia Qualia has covered this research, and we spoke to her
1:29.9	about the surprising ways that what we eat can affect how we smell.
1:33.4	Here's that conversation.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Scientific American, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Scientific American and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.