想让自己更香吗？试试这些食物

你好。

Hi there.

我是艾莉森·帕蒂尔。

It's Allison Partial.

我是《科学美国人》负责心智与大脑领域的副主编。

I'm an associate editor covering mind and brain at Scientific American.

我有机会探索人类认知中最引人入胜的前沿领域，并与你们分享。

I get to explore some of the most fascinating frontiers of human understanding and share them with you.

每天，我们的团队都在努力为你带来清晰、准确且真正引人入胜的科学报道，帮助你理解那些塑造你决策与世界的发现。

Every day, our team works to bring you science journalism that is clear, accurate, and genuinely compelling, helping you to make sense of discoveries that shape your decisions and your world.

在最新一期中，我们深入探讨了意识的科学，这是现代研究中最神秘也最激动人心的课题之一。

In our latest issue, we take a deep dive into the science of consciousness, one of the most mysterious and exciting topics in modern research.

你可以在我们的网站scientificamerican.com上找到它，那里有丰富的故事，助你获取信息并获得启发。

Find it on our website at scientificamerican.com, where you can find stories to stay informed and inspired.

这里是《科学美国人》科学速递，我是肯德拉·皮埃尔·刘易斯，代替蕾切尔·菲尔德曼为您播报。

For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Kendra Pierre Lewis, in for Rachel Feldman.

2024年底，因出演《德里女孩》和《布里奇顿》而知名的演员尼古拉·科林被问及她与扮演《神秘博士》第十五任博士的朱迪·加特拉的合作经历。

In late twenty twenty four, Nicola Coughlin, the actor famous for her work on Derry Girls and Bridgerton, was asked about her work with Judy Gatla, who played the fifteenth doctor on Doctor Who.

她的回答是：他太棒了，而且他身上闻起来也特别好。

Her reply was, He's amazing, and he smells amazing.

听我说，我明白。

Look, I get it.

一个人的体味，无论是好是坏，都会留下持久的印象。

How someone smells, whether it's good or bad, can leave a long lasting impression.

这就是为什么我们在香氛沐浴露、除臭剂和香水上投入如此多资金的原因。

That's why we pour so much money into scented bath washes, deodorants, and perfumes.

但在这些产品之下，依然是我们天然的体味。

But under all those products remains our natural scent.

尽管疾病和洗澡频率等因素会影响这种气味，但多项研究表明，饮食也会产生影响。

And while factors such as illness and how often we bathe can affect that smell, so can food according to a number of studies.

自由科学记者索菲亚·夸利亚曾报道过这项研究，我们与她探讨了饮食如何以令人惊讶的方式影响我们的体味。

Freelance Science journalist Sophia Qualia has covered this research, and we spoke to her about the surprising ways that what we eat can affect how we smell.

这是那段对话。

Here's that conversation.

非常感谢您今天加入我们。

Thank you so much for joining us today.

所以，如果我吃很多果冻豆，我会开始闻起来甜甜的吗？

So is it like if I eat a lot of jelly beans, I'll start smelling sweet?

我不这么认为。

I don't think no.

事情没那么简单。

It's not that clear cut.

当然，这里需要说明的是，这是一个非常新的研究领域，我们才刚开始收集数据。

So, obviously, caveat here is that this is a very new field, and so we're only starting to collect data.

我们目前还没有足够的数据来明确地得出结论，比如闻起来甜是因为吃了甜食，或者闻起来酸是因为吃了酸食。

We don't have that much data that we can really draw really, really good lines about, like, smelling sweet is because you've eaten sweet stuff or smelling sour is because you've eaten sour stuff.

总的来说，这个过程并不是那么直接明了的。

And in general, it's not really that straightforward of a process.

对吧？

Right?

因为食物会进入我们的身体并在肠道内被消化。

Because the food goes through our body and gets digested inside our gut.

然后，要么是因为从肠道回流的挥发性化学物质导致我们的呼吸有特定气味，要么是因为这些物质进入血液后通过汗液排出。

And then either we're smelling because our breath smells a certain way because of the volatile chemicals coming back up from our gut, or because they've gone through our bloodstream and we're sweating them out.

对吧？

Right?

所以，糖分、食物和美味的果冻豆在影响我们的体味之前，要经历很多过程。

So the sugars and the foods and the delicious jelly beans go through a lot of processes before they affect how we smell.

我在这篇文章中感到惊讶的一点是，研究人员关于大蒜如何影响体味所做的研究。

One of the things that I found surprising in your article was the work that researchers did on the way garlic makes body smell.

你能谈谈这项研究吗？

Can you talk about that work?

是的。

Yeah.

我喜欢这一点。

I love that.

显然，我们都爱吃大蒜。

So obviously, we all love to eat garlic.

它让食物变得超级美味，但之后我们的呼吸却不一定闻起来那么香了。

It makes things super tasty, but then our breath doesn't smell exactly as delicious afterwards.

我知道很多人不乐意和有大蒜味呼吸的人接吻。

I know a lot of people wouldn't fancy a kiss with a garlic smelling breath.

因此，研究人员选择它作为研究对象之一。

And so researchers it's one of the reasons researchers targeted it.

对吧？

Right?

他们觉得，当闻到别人呼吸中的气味时，大蒜味是最令人讨厌的。

They're like, oh, it's the most annoying of the smells when you're when you're smelling it on somebody's breath.

让我们看看吃大蒜后体味会发生什么变化。

Let's see what happens to body odor after garlic.

对吧？

Right?

所以研究人员实际上让大约40名男性佩戴了一些腋下垫片，就是那种吸汗的垫子，放在腋下收集汗液，持续约十二小时。

So the researchers actually had about 40 men wear some armpit pads, like, yeah, like absorbent pads under their armpits collecting their sweat for about twelve hours.

然后他们让一部分人吃一点大蒜，一部分人吃大量大蒜，还有一些人服用大蒜补充剂。

And then they made some of them eat a little bit of garlic, some of them eat loads of garlic, and some of them take some like garlic supplements.

接着，他们让80名女性对这些垫片的气味进行评分，如果想太多的话，这确实有点恶心。

Then they had 80 women rate the scent from those pads, which is kinda gross if you think about it too much.

是的。

Yeah.

你怎么报名参加这个研究的？

How do you sign up for that study?

我没有。

I have not.

我没有报名

I have not signed

报名这个。

up for this.

然后这些女性基本上要根据主观感受对男性的气味进行评分，比如觉得他们是令人愉悦且有吸引力的，还是阳刚且强烈的。

And then the women basically had to rate the men's smell, right, according to, like, subjective ratings that of how they felt whether they were pleasant and attractive or masculine and intense.

于是她们填写了一份问卷。

So they filled out a survey.

研究结果表明，少量食用大蒜的男性并没有让这些女性产生特别的反应，但大量食用大蒜的男性却被认为非常有魅力。

And the findings suggested that the men with a little bit of garlic consumption weren't making these women react in any particular way, but those eating a lot of garlic were perceived as very sexy.

因此，他们在魅力评分上的排名上升了。

So their rankings for sexiness went up.

所以，腋下散发的大蒜味闻起来很香，很美味，很有性感魅力。

So the smell of garlic under the armpit was smelling good, was smelling delicious, smelling sexy.

研究者本人，我在他们完成研究后与他们交谈过，他们也感到非常困惑。

The researchers themselves, I spoke to them when after they conducted the study, they were quite confused too.

他们说：‘我们不得不重复做了三次，因为我们觉得数据说不通。’

They were like, we had to do this three times because we didn't think the data made sense.

对吧？

Right?

你本来也会觉得腋下有大蒜味应该很难闻。

You would expect garlic to smell nasty under an armpit as well.

他们自己也感到困惑和惊讶，觉得这个数据挺搞笑的。

So they were also confused and surprised and they thought it was quite funny to have this data.

他们其实认真思考了很久，目前的理论是，也许因为大蒜对健康有益。

They've actually thought long and hard about it and their theory right now is that, you know, maybe because garlic is is a good food for your health.

对吧？

Right?

这是一种健康的食物。

It's a healthy food.

它含有大量抗氧化剂。

It has a lot of antioxidants.

它含有大量抗菌成分，能改善人的健康。

It has a lot of antimicrobial properties that improve people's health.

也许这就是让人无意识中显得更有魅力的原因。

Maybe that's what's making someone smell subconsciously more sexy.

这是因为，你知道，我们进化出了选择健康伴侣的倾向，这是由进化机制和我们身体对繁衍的本能反应决定的。

It's because, you know, we've evolved to select romantic partners or sexual partners that are healthy because of the way that evolution works and how our bodies are wired to think about like, oh, we need to procreate.

所以，这可能就是正在发生的事情。

So maybe that's what's going on.

科学家们正是通过这种进化视角来解释这一现象的。

This evolutionary lens is how the scientists have been trying to explain it.

所以解决方案是多吃富含大蒜的饮食，但一定要好好刷牙。

So the solution is eat a garlic heavy diet, but really make sure to brush your teeth.

没错。

Exactly.

刷完牙，然后就带着有点发霉的腋下到处走。

Brush your teeth and then just go around with your armpits kinda just like musty.

你根本看不出来。

You can't see.

所以，是的，但她抬起手臂是为了向我们展示她的腋下。

So, yeah, but she's lifting up her arms to to illustrate her armpits to us.

但大蒜研究确实与更广泛的研究结果一致，即多吃水果和蔬菜通常会让我们体味更好，至少从汗味的角度来看是这样。

But the garlic research did sort of fall in line with the broader research that suggests that eating a lot of fruits and veggies tends to make us smell better, at least from a sweat perspective.

这取决于你作为一个人有多容易放屁，你的消化系统和口气可能会时好时坏。

It can be, depending on how gassy you are as a human, it could be hit or miss with your GI tract and your breath.

但就汗味而言，多吃水果和蔬菜确实对我们很有好处。

But when it comes to sweat in particular, it does seem that like lots of fruit, lots of veg are pretty good for us.

是的。

Yeah.

所以，尽管我们吃完芦笋后尿液可能有点怪味，或者吃某些蔬菜后容易胀气，但类似的研究中，研究人员让受试者佩戴汗垫等装置。

So while maybe our pee smells a little weird after we have asparagus, or we can get a little gassy after some veggies, similar studies where they had kind of people wear sweat pads and stuff.

我想这项研究是在澳大利亚做的，发现多吃水果和蔬菜的男性体味更好。

I think this one was done in Australia, found that the men who were eating more fruits and vegetables were kind of smelling better.

他们闻起来更果香、更花香、更甜美，而且整体上更宜人。

They were smelling more fruity, more floral, more sweet, and kind of more widely.

是的。

Yeah.

水果和蔬菜使他们在女性闻到他们的体味时更具吸引力。

The fruits and veg were making them more attractive to women who were smelling their scent.

研究人员再次对此进行了解释，说：好吧。

And again, researchers kind of justify that by saying, okay.

这是因为，你知道，蔬菜和水果对我们的饮食健康有益。

Well, it's probably because, you know, veggies, fruits, they're healthy for our diet.

它们让我们的身体更健康、更强壮。

They make our bodies healthy and strong.

因此，我们的体味可能在潜意识中传递了这一信息。

And so that's maybe what our body scent is then subconsciously communicating.

但同样，这些研究样本量都很小。

But again, these are really small studies with small samples.

所以我们没有大量的数据。

So we don't have like loads of data.

但总的来说，似乎这里存在某种趋势或模式。

But all in all, it seems to be that there's a trend or a pattern here.

有没有哪些食物或我们摄入的东西会让我们变得不那么有吸引力，比如气味更差？

Are there foods that or things that we consume that may make us less appealing, like smell less great?

尽管数据不多，我们才刚开始看到一些新兴趋势，但研究人员已经发现了一些让我们气味变得不太愉快的因素的规律。

Although there isn't a lot of data and we are just starting to see emerging trends, researchers have started to see a little bit of patterns on stuff that are making us smell a little bit less pleasant.

例如，之前研究大蒜吸收垫的同一个团队，也调查了肉类是否会让我们的气味更具吸引力。

So for instance, that same team that put the absorbent pads for garlic, they also looked into whether meat makes us more attractive.

他们让一些男性连续两周要么大量吃肉，要么吃非肉类饮食，然后让女性对他们的体味在愉悦度、吸引力、阳刚感和强度方面进行评分。

They had men who were either eating a lot of meat or a non meat diet for two weeks, and then they had again women rate their scents for pleasantness, attractiveness, masculinity, and intensity.

结果发现，不吃肉的男性的体味平均被评价为更具吸引力、更愉悦，且强度更低。

And the odor of the men who weren't eating the meat was on average rated as more attractive, more pleasant, and less intense.

研究人员再次绞尽脑汁思考这个问题，因为他们觉得：‘等等，这是为什么？’

And again, the researchers kinda had to rack their brains about this because they were like, oh, but what?

我的意思是，从进化角度看，我们一直都在吃肉。

I mean, we evolutionarily, we've always eaten meat.

为什么会这样让我们闻起来不那么好闻？

Why would that make us smell less pleasant?

这并不是他们预期的结果，因为肉类被认为是人类饮食中重要的一部分。

This was not what they were expecting to find because meat is considered kind of like an important part of the human diet.

但研究人员也知道，早期人类确实吃肉，但他们吃的肉量远少于我们现在吃的。

But the researchers also did know, you know, early humans were eating meat, sure, but they were eating like a lot less meat than what we're eating today.

而且他们吃的也不是我们现在这种高度加工的肉类。

And they weren't eating the super ultra processed meat that we eat now.

他们吃的是不同种类的肉。

They were eating different types of meat.

他们吃的是野味。

They were eating game.

所以也许这就是我们观察到的效应。

So maybe that's kind of the effect that we're seeing there.

另一个因素是酒精。

And another one is alcohol.

尽管酒精可能让我们感到放松、情绪更好，但它似乎是那种闻起来不太好的物质之一。

Although alcohol might make us feel relaxed and in a better mood, it does seem to be one of those that doesn't smell that good.

我觉得尤其是酒精，我们其实本能地知道这一点，比如任何上过大学、大量饮酒的人。

I feel like with alcohol in particular, we kind of know that intuitively if anyone, you know, went to college and drank a lot.

在你经历了一个彻夜酗酒之后，身上会有一种不太好的气味。

There's a smell that happens after you've had a a hard night of drinking that is not great.

但肉类的情况有点出人意料，尤其是在现在这个许多人推崇纯肉饮食的时代。

But the meat was a little bit surprising, especially now in an era where there are so many people pushing like meat only diets.

感觉除了纯肉饮食可能带来的健康影响外，它还可能让你对那些你希望吸引的人缺乏吸引力。

It does feel like, in addition to the health effects that can come from subsisting off of just meat, it also might make you less attractive to people you might want to be attracted to.

是的。

Yeah.

再说一遍，这些数据还处于非常早期的阶段。

Again, this is very early early days data.

这些研究的样本量都非常小，所以我不确定我们是否能做出过于广泛的结论。

These are very small studies, so I don't know if we can really make huge sweeping statements.

但毫无疑问，似乎出现了一点微妙的变化。

But for sure, there seems to be a little bit of a subtle shift.

所以，取决于你有多在意自己的体味，这可能是需要考虑的因素。

So depending on how much you care about how much you smell, that could be something to take into consideration.

我认为这里需要指出一个重要前提是，这些很大程度上也受到文化影响。

I think an important caveat to point out here is so much of this is also culturally mediated.

在某种文化中成长起来的人可能觉得不吸引人的气味，在另一种文化中的人却可能觉得吸引。

Things that somebody growing up in a certain type of culture might not find attractive in scent, somebody from another culture might.

因此，我们需要综合考虑所有这些因素，意识到显然存在主观偏好。

So we need to take into consideration all of that and kind of see that there's obviously like subjective preferences.

还存在文化偏好。

There's cultural preferences.

如果你一生都在吃米饭和咖喱，你对这种气味的倾向显然会不同于从未吃过米饭和咖喱的人。

If you've grown up eating rice and curry your whole life, you're obviously gonna have a different predisposition towards that scent compared to somebody who's never eaten rice and curry before.

对吧？

Right?

因此，这里有很多文化因素需要我们考虑，还有很多背景因素。

So there's a lot of cultural mediation here that we need to think about, and there's a lot of context.

这就是为什么设置这些实验一直相当困难。

That's why it's been quite hard to set up these experiments.

对吧？

Right?

除了那些令人反感的部分，比如我们该如何收集男性腋下的汗液？

Aside from the icky parts of like, how do we collect men's sweat under their armpits?

所以我认为这无疑是一个非常引人入胜的研究领域。

So I think this is a super fascinating area of study for sure.

但我们其实也直觉上知道气味很重要。

But we also kind of know that scent is important intuitively.

比如，人人都会谈论新生儿的气味，或者当你伴侣不在身边时，穿着他们旧的连帽衫，因为上面还留着他们的味道。

Like, everyone talks about, like, how a newborn baby smells or, you know, wearing your partner's old hoodie because it still smells like them when they're away from you.

所以我们知道，没错，这确实受到文化影响，但确实存在某种真实的东西——一个人的体味会深刻影响你是否被他吸引或排斥。

So we kind of know, like, yes, it's culturally mediated, but there does seem to be a there there in the sense of, like, the way a person smells can really factor into whether you're attracted to them or you're repelled by them.

当然。

For sure.

这里特别有趣的是，我们每个人都有独特的体味特征。

And what's super fascinating here is that each one of us has a unique scent profile.

对吧？

Right?

就像指纹一样。

Like a fingerprint.

越来越多的研究表明，从我们的性格类型——比如你是外向还是内向——到我们的情绪和健康状况，都会影响我们的体味。

There's a growing body of research here that shows that everything from our personality type, like whether you're an extrovert or whether you're an introvert, to our mood and our health really affects the way we smell, you know.

这源于基因。

It comes from genes.

这源于荷尔蒙。

It comes from hormones.

这源于健康状况和卫生习惯。

It comes from health, from hygiene.

它还来自你是男性还是女性，是年轻还是年老，是同性恋还是异性恋，是主导型还是顺从型，是否在排卵、怀孕、生病、快乐或悲伤。

It comes from whether you're a male or a female, whether you're young or old, gay or straight, dominant or subordinate, ovulating, pregnant, sick, happy, sad.

所以所有这些因素都会影响我们的体味和身体散发出的气味。

So like all of these things affect our odor and our scent, the way our our body smells.

因此，饮食只是叠加在这些因素之上的一小部分而已。

So diet is just like one of the small bits and pieces that goes on top of that.

对吧？

Right?

这也正是为什么很难说：‘从现在开始，我就只根据饮食来决定我的体味’，因为肯定还有很多其他因素在起作用。

That's also why it's hard to say, okay, I'm gonna make decisions about how I smell from now on just based on my diet because there's a lot of other things at play for sure.

不对。

Nope.

抱歉。

Sorry.

我听到的是，从今往后我要只吃西兰花、胡萝卜和苹果。

What I've heard is I'm going to live on a broccoli and carrot only diet from here on out with apples.

西兰花、胡萝卜和苹果。

Broccoli, carrot, and apples.

还有果冻豆。

And jelly beans.

别忘了果冻豆。

Don't forget the jelly beans.

你不能忘了果冻豆。

You can't forget the jelly beans.

今天就到这里。

That's all for today.

敬请关注周五的节目，我们将讨论那些在历史长河中被遗忘或隐藏的伟大科学贡献者。

Tune in on Friday when we'll talk about people who made incredible scientific contributions that were lost or hidden in the passage of time.

但在你离开之前，我们想请你为未来的节目提供帮助。

But before you go, we'd like to ask you for help for a future episode.

主题是亲吻。

It's about kissing.

跟我们说说你最难忘的一次接吻。

Tell us about your most memorable kiss.

是什么让它变得特别？

What made it special?

那种感觉是怎样的？

How did it feel?

用手机或电脑录一段语音备忘录，发送到 sciencequicklycyam dot com。

Record a voice memo on your phone or computer and send it over to sciencequicklycyam dot com.

请务必附上你的名字和你来自哪里。

Be sure to include your name and where you're from.

《Science Quickly》由我本人肯德拉·皮尔刘易斯，与丰达·马兰吉、沙什米塔·帕塔克和杰夫·德维西奥共同制作。

Science Quickly is produced by me, Kendra Peerlewis, along with Fonda Malangi, Shashmita Patak, and Jeff Delvisio.

本集由亚历克斯·塞韦拉剪辑。

This episode was edited by Alex Seguera.

莎娜·波斯和亚伦·沙塔克为我们节目做事实核查。

Shana Poses and Aaron Shattuck fact check our show.

我们的主题音乐由多米尼克·史密斯创作。

Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

订阅《科学美国人》，获取更多最新且深入的科学新闻。

Subscribe to Scientific American for more up to date and in-depth science news.

这里是《科学美国人》的肯德拉·皮尔·刘易斯。

For Scientific American, this is Kendra Peer Lewis.

祝你本周愉快！

Have a great week!