FMO3 body odor (reference post)

Before the internet I thought I was alone in having a transient 'bowel body odor' problem, but then the internet comes along and it seems it is the most common type mentioned on body odor forums. So, whatever is the cause of this 'syndrome', I do not think it is rare. People refer to it as 'fecal body odor' but I think that is the most obvious distressing odour and in fact it is worse than that because the person can seem to smell of a multitude of smells which to me probably mostly involve sulfide in some way.

My own (current) theory for 'fecal body odor' is that it is most likely what I would call 'FMO3 body odor', meaning to do with the substrates that are oxidized by the FMO3 enzyme. In practice, I could call it a few other names :

sulfide and amine body odor (sulfides and amines that are oxidized by FMO3, that is)
FMO3 substrates body odor
'fecal body odor' (although I would think of this as 'bowel body odor', since many of the spectrum of smells are unpleasant but not even fecal. I think it is known as fecal body odor because this is the most humiliating complaint)

Basically, if you can't fully metabolize the load of substrates above then you will have some circulating in your system that will come out through your pores and body fluids unprocessed. Since the biggest load of FMO3 substrates are probably from gut flora metabolism, this will likely be the biggest load of FMO3 substrates in most people. Many biogenic amines are also probably FMO3 substrates too, which could be a further factor. Biogenic amines are things made internally like hormones, neurotransmitters etc.

The way the body's detox system is set up, the body has a most efficient enzyme to detox toxins, and if that cannot be used then it can go to an enzyme less efficient at detoxing that toxin. The only exception (substrate) so far known for FMO3 is trimethylamine, which can go no other route. This is why experts only accept trimethylamine as the possible source of problem with FMO3 function. Perhaps TMA is the 'signature' smell of poor functioning FMO3, perhaps moreso in very severe cases. To me, it seems that TMA may be a small player in the mix of odorous compounds for most people.  

By sysbodyodor

fecal body odor, fmo3

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