Re:How Mosquitoes Sniff Out Human Sweat To Find Us
by xavivives on Sunday March 31, 2019 @09:18AM
(#19535422)
It seems relevant to point out that there are two types of sweat glands [1]. And they secrete different stuff:
"Eccrine sweat is clear, odorless, and is composed of 98–99% water; it also contains NaCl, fatty acids, lactic acid, citric acid, ascorbic acid, urea, and uric acid. Its pH ranges from 4 to 6.8. On the other hand, the apocrine sweat has a pH of 6 to 7.5; it contains water, proteins, carbohydrate waste material, lipids, and steroids. The sweat is oily, cloudy, viscous, and originally odorless; it gains odor upon decomposition by bacteria. Because both apocrine glands and sebaceous glands open into the hair follicle, apocrine sweat is mixed with sebum."
The article mentions acid lactic as a signaling metric. Only the Eccrine glands sweat contains it.
This explains why the no-correlation between strong oddor (casused by the apocrine sweat).
"Eccrine sweat is clear, odorless, and is composed of 98–99% water; it also contains NaCl, fatty acids, lactic acid, citric acid, ascorbic acid, urea, and uric acid. Its pH ranges from 4 to 6.8. On the other hand, the apocrine sweat has a pH of 6 to 7.5; it contains water, proteins, carbohydrate waste material, lipids, and steroids. The sweat is oily, cloudy, viscous, and originally odorless; it gains odor upon decomposition by bacteria. Because both apocrine glands and sebaceous glands open into the hair follicle, apocrine sweat is mixed with sebum."
The article mentions acid lactic as a signaling metric. Only the Eccrine glands sweat contains it.
This explains why the no-correlation between strong oddor (casused by the apocrine sweat).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_gland