It's official, older people smell different- from age 40 upwards!

[Princessfluffy]

Article in today's Times details how people over 40 smell different due to the presence of a chemical called 2-nonenal. The older you get the more you smell of this chemical.

Seemingly eating mushrooms can keep this smell at bay.

OMFG. I am 56. A daily mushroom it is then.

Another post a few days ago made me laugh (on a different thread) about how she still moves young in her 40s. I'd have thought all people in their 40s do unless unwell!

@Westfacing It is definitely true. And nothing to do with hygiene. It is literally a chemical thing.

Yes, it obviously just starts very gently at 40.

If you could use Google, you'd know that the 2-nonenal smell is a real thing, usually only noticeable in people much older than 40.

"I suppose, in biological terms, from 40, definitely after 50 the human body is going through the ageing process. "

I would think the ageing process starts as soon as we've passed our peak so 18-21? We are ageing all the time really.

"As a nurse who looks after older people in their own homes I can definitely say that it's NOT true!"

As a nurse, are you really denying that some elderly people have a small associated with the chemical 2-nonenal???? It's a well-known thing!

I'm 63 and just off for a long soak in a bubble bath, lest I start ponging.

I know what is meant, I have friends in their 80s who trained as nurses who talk of nursing being about the holistic provision of care, about spending time with a patient and observing them, as well as their vitals, and how that included smell and how it could I dictate something was off before tests.

Sadly it's a lost art, and nursing is suffering greatly for it as well as the patients.

Definitely @RosesAndHellebores - a now retired nurse friend of mine said the same and about cleanliness in hospitals being appalling once nurses stopped doing it. Degree in some of the caring professions are wasted as the most important qualities for those jobs seem to be innate.

I agree with other posters that this smell is likely more pronounced with older people who are fairly sedentary, don’t go out much, don’t air their house enough by opening windows/doors etc., aren’t able to keep on top of house cleaning/daily laundry etc.

The old people smell I get in nursing homes etc often seems to come more from the soft furnishings, sofas, curtains etc rather than the people themselves added to the fact that the heating is usually permanently on high and the windows rarely opened.

I think for most active old people, this smell might well be present but isn’t a problem (or even detectable to the average human nose) if you wash daily and have clean clothes.

Not really about ageing but some diseases especially cancers have a particular smell which experienced clinicians can pick up on and use to guess correctly at a diagnosis, before a biopsy has come back. I am an AHP and have seen several letters to that effect in patients’ notes.

The smell of impending death 😂

It really isn't nonsense. Its chemical. We smell different as we age.

I've completely gone to seed -in my mid fifties- if I fell over I couldn't get up off the floor! But I'm still a bit of an animal, still have adventures and feel and live as if I'm in my 20s. I don't for a second pretend I'm not ageing but it doesn't impact on my joie de vivre. And its definitely the case that mothers can tell if their little ones are unwell by their smell.

Apart from eating more mushrooms & using persimmon soap we can always douse ourselves in mushroom perfume to keep us fragrant.........
https://foras.shop/products/mushroom-forest-50ml

its mainly due to a chemical - a VOC - called 2-nonenal - which we emit more of through our skin as we age = all of us = it is unrelated to cleanliness, its just a fact of life. Lakeland Paints has a special product to eliminate this odour - its called Atmosphere Purifying Paint

I'm old.

I open windows

Nursing was pretty basic 60 years ago. I wouldn’t want to go back 60 years where people used to smell if something was off. I’d much rather have the screening mammogram or the smear rather than people sniffing.

It still helps though
when I was a carer I could walk in to someone’s home and it would smell different, they would be unwell or I can also smell a UTI

That’s really cool, I love how animals can detect illness too
What does a uti smell like?

Usually urine smells a lot stronger, more concentrated but I can smell it on people as a sort of musty/damp smell
if someone is getting a cold they smell like they’ve sneezed to me

We need both actually, which is one of the many reasons why online consultations aren't a good idea.

Yes we start decomposing around then

I am with mother at present. 89 and becoming frail. Step is recovering from surgery and it is a difficult time. They do not smell. They are immaculate although I appreciate that had nothing to do with it.

I notice the smell from 70 onwards, not 40!

I noticed this smell on my grandmother, and later, on my mother. Neither were dirty people. I also remember my friend's grandmother smelling the same, too when I was a little girl.