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Will Zinc Help With Internal Body Odor?

Body odor is a sign of poor health and hygiene. You repel friends, family and colleagues because you smell. Odor is also often embarrassing and makes a person lonely and secluded. Supermarkets and pharmacies are loaded with perfumes and deodorants to fight the bacteria that cause the smell externally. But what about internal body odor? Supplements like zinc, help to tackle the odor that arises due to internal malfunctions in the body.

  1. Causes of Body Odor

    • The body releases waste products through skin. Bacteria grow on these toxins and multiply in sweat and lead to foul smell. Impaired functions of internal organs like kidney, liver, poor bowel movements also create body odor. Foul odors are also formed by ammonia and sulphides that are generated in the intestines with the ingestion of food. Most toxins get excreted, but some get absorbed and are transferred to the blood. These toxins pile up inside the body, and exit is the through the skin.

    Zinc in Diet

    • To avoid internal body odor, a healthy diet helps in digestion, clears the kidneys and also ensures detoxification. Minerals such as zinc help to metabolically remove wastes that lead to odor due to storage of internal toxins in the body.

    Zinc as Antiseptic

    • Zinc helps to maintain an optimum immune system. During the 18th century, surgeons used it as an antiseptic and antibiotic, for its support in quick body healing and repair. Thus it helps in fighting odor due to fungal infections on skin.

    Zinc and External Bacteria

    • Zinc is a natural antibacterial and antiviral element, found in all the body fluids. When we perspire, the body releases large amount of zinc with the toxins, which being antibacterial, fights with the bacteria and decreases body odor.

    Dosage

    • Morton Scribner, M.D., a dermatologist in Arcadia, California, says, "Some people find that body odor problems can be remedied simply by consuming more zinc." He suggests that you boost intake with a daily supplement of 25 to 50 milligrams of zinc.

    Foods Rich in Zinc

    • Our body contains about 2 to 3 g of zinc. Since zinc is not stored in the body, a regular intake of zinc in diet is essential. So it is beneficial to eat zinc-rich foods such as oysters, lean beef, king crab and wheat germ.

    Warning

    • Zinc if consumed in excess leads to decreased HDL (good) cholesterol, white blood cells and copper. It can also cause gastrointestinal problems.

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