Some people smell like fish, no matter how often they bathe.
FISH ODOR SYNDROME (TRIMETHYLAMINURIA)
Many foods that you eat are loaded with choline and carnitine, two nutrients that your body uses to keep you healthy. Choline and carnitine that are not absorbed in your upper intestinal tract, pass to your colon where bacteria ferment these two chemicals to form trimethylamine which smells like rotten fish. This chemical is absorbed from the colon into the bloodstream and travels to the liver which breaks trimethylamine down to odorless trimethylamine N-oxide which is then excreted in the urine. However, some people inherit a condition in which they lack the liver enzyme that breaks down the fishy-smelling trimethylamine to its odorless product and their breath, sweat, tears, saliva, urine and vaginal secretions smell like rotting fish.
To be able to remain in society, these people must restrict foods that contain lots of choline and carnitine, such as fish and meats. They may also benefit from short courses of metronidazole, an antibiotic that kills the bacteria normally found in the colon to cause trimethylamine to form.
FISH ODOR SYNDROME (TRIMETHYLAMINURIA)
Many foods that you eat are loaded with choline and carnitine, two nutrients that your body uses to keep you healthy. Choline and carnitine that are not absorbed in your upper intestinal tract, pass to your colon where bacteria ferment these two chemicals to form trimethylamine which smells like rotten fish. This chemical is absorbed from the colon into the bloodstream and travels to the liver which breaks trimethylamine down to odorless trimethylamine N-oxide which is then excreted in the urine. However, some people inherit a condition in which they lack the liver enzyme that breaks down the fishy-smelling trimethylamine to its odorless product and their breath, sweat, tears, saliva, urine and vaginal secretions smell like rotting fish.
To be able to remain in society, these people must restrict foods that contain lots of choline and carnitine, such as fish and meats. They may also benefit from short courses of metronidazole, an antibiotic that kills the bacteria normally found in the colon to cause trimethylamine to form.
