If a person's vagina has an unusually strong and unpleasant smell, like onions, it may be a sign of an infection. Other possible causes include certain foods, a forgotten tampon, and hygiene practices. The body naturally produces a discharge that keeps the vagina healthy and free of harmful bacteria and irritants.
One of the by-products of their metabolism is a group of sulphur-containing chemicals called thioalcohols. The exact thioalcohols produced will depend on your unique menagerie of skin bacteria, but some thioalcohols do indeed smell strongly of onion.
Sulfur smells like rotten eggs. When it's secreted from your body in your sweat, it can put off an unpleasant smell. Examples of sulfur-rich foods are: Onions.
Poor hygiene is the most common cause of smelling yourself through your pants. This could be due to not showering regularly or not changing clothes often enough. Bacterial and fungal infections are another potential cause, as they can produce a strong odor that may be noticeable even through clothing.
But your apocrine glands, usually only found in your armpit area, are activated when you're under psychological stress, explains Preti. This sweat produces a strong, sometimes even sulfurous odor when you're anxious or scared.
Fluid changes
Some people may notice watery discharge or a vaginal odor during menopause. This is due to the vagina's changing acidity level — also known as pH — following a decline in estrogen levels.
Lemon juice works to remove onion smell due to its acid level. This is why vinegar is also a solution, as well as tomato juice, celery juice, mustard, and rubbing alcohol. Any of these can be put onto a wet towel, and used to scrub while you run water over your hands.
The menopausal drop in estrogen also leaves our bodies with relatively higher levels of testosterone — produced by our ovaries in small amounts — than before. This can attract more bacteria to sweat, making it smell funkier.
Vaginal odor can be caused by diet, sweating, menstruation, or pregnancy. It can sometimes also be caused by infections like bacterial vaginosis or trichomoniasis.
Hair is another place where bacteria like to hide. If you still smell a strong body odor after a shower, consider shaving the hair in your armpits, groin, and chest. The hair's surface is a perfect place for bacteria to call home, and it's harder to eliminate them from the hair than your bare skin.
Hormone imbalances and body odor often go together. Dips in estrogen can trigger hot flashes and night sweats, meaning you simply sweat more, which in turn can result in more odor.
A dry mouth allows bacteria to thrive. Bacteria that live in the mouth can make compounds that have sulfur. These compounds are especially stinky. They can smell like rotten eggs or onion, for example.
Apocrine bromhidrosis is the most common form of bromhidrosis in adults and is localised, usually to the armpits and/or anogenital area. Eccrine bromhidrosis presents as a generalised malodour, and may be associated with bad breath (halitosis), anogenital odour, and smelly urine.
Trimethylaminuria (TMAU) is an uncommon condition that causes an unpleasant, fishy smell. It's also called "fish odour syndrome". Sometimes it's caused by faulty genes that a person inherits from their parents, but this isn't always the case.
The menopausal transition most often begins between ages 45 and 55. It usually lasts about seven years but can be as long as 14 years. The duration can depend on lifestyle factors such as smoking, age it begins, and race and ethnicity.
Of the two groups, the scientists agreed: Women had the more "unpleasant" smell. The researchers also discovered why women's sweat smelled like onions: The female sweat had ten times the level of an odorless sulfur-containing compound than men.
Foods such as garlic and onions can give you what Dr Dey calls “garlic sweat” due to the high concentration of Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) they contain. Like your cabbage and cauliflower, these foods also typically contain sulphur.
A person living with a health condition such as diabetes or kidney disease may also have sweat that smells like ammonia. A person can try antiperspirants to reduce the amount they sweat, and deodorants to cover up any odors. A doctor can treat any underlying health conditions to help reduce the ammonia smell in sweat.