Why do my feet smell like corn chips?

08 August 2013

FEET

A pair of bare feet

Share

Question

My girlfriend wants to know why my feet smell like corn chips. I guess I do, too!
Jon

Answer

Hannah Critchlow answered this stinky question...

Hannah - Well, it's due to this little bacteria calledBrevibacteriawhich are also use to ripen or mature certain types of cheeses.

TheseBrevibacteriaare found on human skin, in a normal kind of way. When they're living in excess, they release chemicals called S-methyl thioesters. You may have even noticed that when you've eaten asparagus that your wee smells funny as well and that's because of the release of similar S-methyl thioesters, which smell very pungent.

So, the cheese smells cheesy because theBrevibacteriareleasing S-methyl thioesters as part their normal metabolism. There'sBrevibacteriaon our feet too, and on our skin usually, and the hot weather at the moment is causing an outburst of thisBrevibacterium -kind of a party on your feet, and they're releasing this chemical compound which smells of cheesy corn chips as Tad says.

Dominic - And I guess your feet are underneath socks and shoes and so that sweat isn't drying out, so it's a perfect environment for these bacteria?

Hannah - Exactly, yeah!

Comments

If I dont find a solution to the smells generated off my husband and child's feet I will die!!! It got to be for some reason unknown to me and... I know alot.

i got some mouthwash and soaked my feet in it and then i got 3 tablespoons of baking soda , 1 tablespoon of corn starch and 5 drops of tea tree oil and put the mixture in my shoes that had that smell. and let it sit for 24 hours or longer if i didn't wear the shoes another day. also you can freeze your shoes, or wear socks that absorb sweat and put baby powder on your feet so it doesn't sweat as much and you can also put newspaper in your shoes too

What can I do to get rid of this smell?

Yes, how do I get rid of it?

Remove your feet, obviously.

I second this notion. Once I removed my feet the smell literally went away Instantly

cut them off and burn them

My feet smell like that too

Add a comment