Currently TMAU is the only 'systemic/metabolic body odor' diagnosis on offer, proving the principle that people can smell of volatiles through their skin that are sourced from the blood (the consensus before that was that this was not possible or was a sign of severe liver damage etc). However, it seems that for most it is a 'gross underdiagnosis', and that the real disorder is to do with many substrates that have an affinity for the FMO3 enzyme, most of which are sulfides and amines.
At the moment TMAU is known by a handful of Dr's, with 99.999% being unaware. We are expected to be grateful for anyone taking an interest in TMAU. The name commonly given to it is 'fish odor syndrome'. I believe this is a correct name to give it, as I believe that trimethylamine smells of fish.
My own opinion is that for most people trimethylamine is an excellent biomarker for FMO3 amine function, but overall is a small player (if a player at all) in the range of odors the person smells of.
As a community we need to move on from TMAU and move to the real diagnosis (which will be to do with other sulfides and amines that prefer FMO3 as a route). TMAU is probably 'fish odor' and as most people smell of feces and gas etc (many would prefer to only have TMAU) then we need to tell the medical system and lawmakers that this is our problem (fecal body odor etc).
Once the problem is known about, I think lots of therapy and attempts at cures will follow. For now we are left only with a low-choline diet which I think probably does more harm than good.
0 comments:
Post a Comment