What normally causes odor in the perineal and vaginal area?
Perineal odor is caused by oils in sweat gland secretions, vaginal secretions and urine if a woman is having urine leakage. All sweat gland secretions are basically the same components as urine so it is not uncommon to have a urine “smell” in the vulvar area which is really from sweating rather than from losing urine. Some people would describe urine odor as somewhat like ammonia. Many of the foods we eat have odorous oils that end up being secreted in sweat. The more fat we ingest, the more oils are secreted. Vegetarians will have less “sweat odor” than meat eaters unless they are consuming a lot of pungent, spicy foods. Skin bacteria can also react with sweat and produce noxious odors although some scientists question that this occurs to any major degree. It is very likely that some women have different genetic metabolism than others so that they produce different acids in sweat that give distinctive smells. Finally, sweat glands can be depleted of their oils (temporarily) after they