Hold your noses because we're diving into stinky science with bacteria, feet, stinky hair, and dragon breath! On this aromatic tour we'll unmask the pungent truth by covering:
FOLLOW THE SCENT while we find the truth about BO.
From breath to poop, we're not holding back on any stinky subject! Get ready for a blend of facts, fun, and just a bit of unforgettable odor-based adventure with your favorite Parent Busters!
Stick around and let your curiosity (and nose) lead the way.
Grab your free Buster Deduction sheet for kids!
Check out how your can support our LISTEN FOR CAUSE to help us give back to others!
*All resources and references used in researching this podcast episode are found on the corresponding episode post on ParentBusters.com.
Hold your noses because we're diving into stinky science with bacteria, feet, stinky hair, and dragon breath! On this aromatic tour we'll unmask the pungent truth by covering:
FOLLOW THE SCENT while we find the truth about BO.
From breath to poop, we're not holding back on any stinky subject! Get ready for a blend of facts, fun, and just a bit of unforgettable odor-based adventure with your favorite Parent Busters!
Stick around and let your curiosity (and nose) lead the way.
Grab your free Buster Deduction sheet for kids!
Check out how your can support our LISTEN FOR CAUSE to help us give back to others!
*All resources and references used in researching this podcast episode are found on the corresponding episode post on ParentBusters.com.
Hey everyone, welcome to Parent Busters, a fun podcast where parents and kids can learn together. I'm Ella and I'm here with my mom and Jackie. Wow, announcer, jackie, and today we are talking about this episode's date. Wow, oh, whoa. Okay, we haven't even like, we've barely been recording and dang, okay, no, really we're talking about I named it this episode Stinks Because we're talking about all things stinky, oh, that means, you know, like stinky poo, stinky feet, stinky hair oh, stinky hair You're calling me out on that and stinky breath.
Ella:You don't stink. That's the thing. Well, we talked about this in our sweat episode, which go check out. A lot of things that we talked about there kind of correlate to what we're going to talk about in this episode. Seriously, if you wanted to do like a whole unit study or like a camp On Stinks, like a camp at home, fun unit study unit, look into our sweat episode and then this one. We also have a fart episode. If you just want to get the whole, like trinity, true, fart episode two, look at that, three things and then you can check out all of our learning after listening recommendations over on parentbusterscom also.
Ella:Yeah, okay, that got unhinged really quickly. Yeah, what are we doing? Yeah, what are we doing? Let's get this train back on the track. Get this back on the track.
Ella:Let's start with we're talking about all things stinky, all things stinky. Hey, guess what? What? That episode's going to be sensational. Hey, let's do our tutrious in the light. Yeah, let's do our tutrious in the light, okay. Okay, here we go.
Ella:Please hold for a very important message. Number one Okay, stinky feet and stinky cheese have the same bacteria. Yeah, gross, oh. Number two the term halitosis was made up by the Listerine mouthwash. People, wait what? Okay. And number three too much water can make smelly, or poo. Oh, well, that's concerning. We're going to cover all this and more so.
Ella:Do you still have time to get out? No, no, we promise, despite the name, this episode will not stink. I mean, it stinks, but it doesn't, if that makes any sense, not in the Good stink. Hey, do you want to start with stinky feet? Yeah, there's a scientific word for smelly feet. Did you know that? Oh, what is it? Bromodosis, bromodosis, bro Moodosis? No, it's bromodosis, and the primary cause of your stinky feet is bacteria, the presence of bacteria, and I want to note that throughout this episode, you will see a theme of bacteria, of bacteria.
Ella:Yes, kids, if you ever have to take, like, a biology test about smelliness in the body, you're probably pretty safe. The safe answer is bacteria or fungus? Yes. So when these bacteria on your feet sweat and you normally in case you didn't know someone has bacteria on your skin, yes, it's not necessarily bad bacteria, no, it just exists, it vibes there. So when you have these bacteria that you already have on your skin some's good bacteria, some's bad that gets on there through other things, but when you have these bacteria in your feet sweat, it breaks down and interacts. The bacteria breaks down and interacts with the liquid from the sweat. It basically munches down on it that's right and starts decomposing it and then it produces Stinkies, stinkies, lots of lots of stinkies. You're also going to see a theme throughout this episode that tells you Ella is stinky and Jackie is not. Hey, you didn't have to keep my poorly kept secret. Okay, let's take a quiz. Okay, do you have stinky feet? Oh yeah, does Jackie have stinky feet? I don't know. I don't smell your feet. No, by the way, I wanted to look this up. So now I need all of you to look this up, because I forgot why in the trick, if you didn't know.
Ella:When you trick or treat, there's this little saying that says trick or treat, smell my feet. Oh, give me something good to eat. Trick or treat, smell my feet, is it? Or give me something good to eat. Like that's the trick Trick or treat, smell my feet. Or give me something good to eat, is it? Or I just always said trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. Yeah, but I wanted to. I mentally, I made a mental note, which is why I didn't do it, and you should have made a physical note to look up why we say trick or treat, smell my feet. That's fast. Yeah, I didn't even consider that. So now I need someone out there to look it up. And then come back to our social media. Yeah, if someone knows it for some reason, that's a great little tidbit to share with everyone. I'd love to know. Anyway, moving on, or if you want to look it up, please share it with us.
Ella:Would you like to guess how many sweat glands your feet have? Oh well, I do know that your feet have the most sweat glands in your body, but I don't think I wrote down Way more than your armpits, way more it has the most in your body, isn't that crazy? That is crazy to think about because you usually associate sweat with your armpits, right, stinky pits, yeah. So anyway, getting back on track, go check out our sweat episode. Just on sweat, the sweat episode. We didn't. Oh, my goodness, we missed that. Right, I guess we really missed that, yes, so guess how many sweat glands are in our feet? How many, you guess, 2000. Over 12,000 sweat glands oh, I underestimated just a wee bit Just in our feet. So you know what?
Ella:The weird thing about having smelly feet it's like a weird cycle because most of the time you have your feet covered up, right. So that's actually one of the reasons why it's caused. Um, bacteria and fungus, which I might get to in a second Love damp and dark places, like, if you think about going to, like the fungus, if you think about mushrooms that you always find them like old, decomposing, wet, long, moist environments moist, love that word. And inside your shoes, honestly, is a pretty perfect place for them to multiply. It's like MWAH now we're in our lab MWAH so when you're wearing shoes, the sweat can't evaporate off of your skin, so it just kind of builds up, so the bacteria multiplies more and more and breaks down your sweat more and more and more and, like we said, makes the stinkies Gross, eww, gross. Also, certain fungi can grow on your feet.
Ella:You're a fun guy? It is not a fun guy, let me say, and it causes something called athlete's foot which is very unpleasant. Itchy, itchy Makes you very itchy and stinky. Um, and something that's very interesting is I'll be the judge of this Some people have extra sweaty feet.
Ella:This isn't really hard doing a podcast with me as hard as it is doing one with me. Okay, fair when I forget what we said five minutes ago and they were like that's cool, right, ella, and I'm like what? Sorry, I was looking at the shiny light in the background. Okay, anyway, carry on. Some people have extra sweaty feet around 10-15% of people. Um, hi, that's probably true, but hey, we don't need to expose these things on the internet space. It is the, it is. I don't. I don't know what to say. It's just a benefit of having me as a mom. Yeah, so these around 10-50% of people 15, not 50. Oh, I was like wow, really, yeah, that was a mispronunciation on my part.
Ella:These around 10-15% of people have very extra sulfur bacteria. Oh, sulfur, which is the egg smell, the stinky egg smell. Go, listen to one of our 15 egg episodes. Or the fart episode. True, this can be a whole study. Wow, we've done an entire.
Ella:I just realized I need to put a blog. We have, like this sulfur seven or something like that. I realize I just need to put a blog post together on ParamBusterscom about stinky episodes. We've done, please. Or the sulfur seven, please, let the three, seven of them. That's a great, it's so good. Why do I have ideas when we're on air? I don't know, um, this, I don't know, ella, okay, not when we're in the writers room? Right, exactly, um, this extra sulfur bacteria is called ketococcus zininterius, excuse you, yes, and I want to know. I didn't write down the pronunciation. I still got it right. Wow, let's hope. Good for me.
Ella:So how do you help your average stinky feet? Um, I mean, not help them out like they need you to carry their groceries. Take them to therapy. Take them yes, therapy is great your feet. Wash your feet regularly, okay, I'm just going off the top of my head. Okay, wash your feet regularly.
Ella:Yeah, don't wear like synthetic materials, like, wear more natural. Yes, synthetic materials can non-breatheable, I should say Right, really, can make more sweat happen. So things like crocs, like plastic shoes oh oh, dude, I have a pair of these like rubbery sandals that are very comfortable, yes, but they get so slippery Because, for some reason, even though they're open-air on the front yeah, it's something about it just makes you sweat more. Yes, also, get those piggies out in the air, man. Yeah, give your shoes a break. That's one of the big things is, if you keep wearing your shoes over and over and over, especially without socks, because you know what happens when you don't wear socks it gets ten times stinkier than if you wear socks. It does. I mean, speak for your socks, speaking from my experience. So, give your shoes a break. If you have several pairs of shoes, or if you want to go barefoot, do so. Yeah, Get out there. Get those piggies in some grass, man, and by piggies I clearly mean your toes. Clearly, you just have literal pigs With socks. You're like we do. We put our pigs out every day, every day. Yeah, we just take them from the barn out back, let them roam around. Do you know?
Ella:It is true that some smelly feet smell like cheese? Oh no, oh no. Do you want to know why? Sure, it's because one of the bacteria that's commonly found on feet is called Breva Bacterium Epidermis. Oh, and it's also the same bacteria responsible for that distinctive smell and some really stinky cheeses. Oh, so, the same bacteria family. Bacteria on your feet has the same bacteria family as some of those stinky cheeses. That's why I wonder if that's why, our dog's feet smell like corn chips?
Ella:What Hold up? Have you ever noticed? No, I don't go around smelling our dog's feet. Sometimes I can't help it. She shoves her foot in my face. Okay, that is true. But, yes, what is it? Our dogs, our dog casts, do like to come because we have big dogs, true, so they like to come and sit on us because they think they're small dogs, right, as all big dogs do. And one of them, she, likes to just sit on top of you, wherever on your face. You know, put her paws on your face. Yeah, that includes shoving the paws just right up on your face. Now, you'll never not be able to think that her paws smell like cheese or corn chips. I never thought about that. After this, go down and sniff her. No, that will go over.
Ella:Well, no, here's a weird fact for you. According to the BBC, there was a Dutch scientist named Bartnols. Oh, he was one of the first scientists to notice that there was a certain species of mosquito malaria carrying mosquitoes Wait what? That are attracted to smelly feet oh, that makes so much sense. Mosquito magnet and they. When they did a study and they found that they believe that this the mosquitoes that have malaria carry malaria. The malaria parasite seems to alter how the mosquitoes smell, or their sense of smell, and it makes them attracted to smelly feet. Oh, that is so crazy. Do you want to hear another weird smelly fact? Always, okay.
Ella:So there's a company called Dr Schultz. Do you know who they are? They were really popular when I was growing up. I don't. They have shoes, but they also make insoles and other foot care products. You've probably seen their in caps at the stores, but probably probably just in Remember.
Ella:Anyway, there was an employee in their research labs in Addison, sinadi, ohio in the United States. Her name was Madeline Albrecht and she holds the world record for smelling the most feet and armpits ever. Oh, she worked there for 15 years and part of her job was to smell feet and armpits to help them adapt their products. Oh, no, she said that she smelled approximately 5,600 feet and an indeterminate. Number of armpits, indeterminate, so like countless. She holds a world record for it. Oh, I'm so sorry, that's what she's known for. He gets to write a feet sniffer. She's the feet sniffer. Oh, that's so unfortunate.
Ella:I have a really sensitive sense of smell. Yeah, and I would not be able to do that top. No, I don't have a sensitive sense of smell and I still wouldn't be able to do it. What do you think everyone Would you be able to do? The smelly foot smeller? Yeah, let us know. If you say yes, when did you do your job? I wanna know why. Yeah, I'm so concerned.
Ella:Well, some people just have that like scientific interest, though I think. True, okay, that's fair, that's fair. You have? No, I would imagine as someone with a sensitive nose, I'm really annoying to live with. I mean for other reasons, but no, no, not at all, but I smell things here and then I get so annoyed at them for, not, we can't cook eggs anymore, anything like I'm just like, what is what?
Ella:I'm like I made ramen and you're like oh okay, oh right, can I tell everyone what we did earlier? I don't know, like 10 minutes before we started recording. Yeah, in the room where we record, in the room where we record. She was like oh, ella, do you smell that? And I'm like what? No, which is like? This happens like 12 times a day, yes. And then she's like oh, what is that smell? Oh, I actually heard this from the other room. I just heard. What is that smell? Ah, ah, ah.
Ella:Very frustrated because she's been talking about a smell and I'm like I smell literally nothing. So then that promptly has me going around on the floor. I made her crawl around, crawl around with my phone slash light, looking under furniture to see if there's something molding. Well, to be fair, in a house full of pets, that smell could be a lot of things, but it smelled to me like Mildew, like when beach towels sit for a little while and you forget to put them in the washer and they get kind of that sourie smell. That's what it smelled like to me and, in all fairness, we just did come back from a lake vacation, so that's also true. So, yeah, in other news, maybe it's just the fungus growing in my hair. I don't know.
Ella:Who wants to move on. Let's move on. What do you want to talk about next? Let's talk about stinky breath. Okay, stinky breath, it's not a fun thing. No, so it's because, like, all right, so imagine your mouth is like a little cave. You have a cave mouth and you have all these little cave mouth creatures which and we'll call them bacteria Just possibly, in all honesty, these bacteria actually help a lot in your mouth. Yes, they break down food, for example, whenever we eat. But if you don't take care of your cave mouth, if your cave mouth doesn't get flooded regularly with a magical potion of cleaning liquid, I feel like we've lost. And okay, if you don't brush Control of this, okay, go ahead. If you don't brush your teeth or take good care of your teeth, your tongue, by the way, you need to be brushing your tongue, yes, cause, yeah, these naughty bacteria will take over. Yes, so it works. A lot of these, a lot of things that stink on your body, are caused by bacteria and they work in a very similar way, so Just in different areas In different areas. So it just has to adapt, but it's basically the same formula Stinky breath, also known as halitosis.
Ella:Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I have a halitosis fact. Yay, my favorite. Wow, I love halitosis fact. Tell me all about it. Halitosis really was invented by Listerine, and if you don't know Wait, what? Listerine is the mouthwash company? No way. Yes, it really was.
Ella:In 1921, someone named George Lambert and he was actually the son of Jordan Wheat Lambert, who founded the Listerine company oh, he coined the term halitosis to describe bad breath. He combined the Latin word for breath, which is halitus, and the medical ending osis, and created the word halitosis Dang. So it's true. So you just out here making up words and it really worked.
Ella:Listerine, the antiseptic mouthwash Mouthwash yes, that's the one that tastes really medically. Yeah, huh, whatever that means. Yeah, very medically. It allowed me some good old, medically mouthwash, medically taste. It was originally formulated as a surgical antiseptic what? In 1879. Well, that makes sense. And then, in 1921, george Lambert came up with this word halitosis. And then it went from being he made it go from bad breath, just being annoying, to being a medical condition. Oh, and then they sold a ton of Listerine. Way to go, george Lambert, that is top tier marketing. And wow, I thought you were going to say top tier research. And I was going to say you were. And top tier, that was good research, that was good research, that was very good research. No, that was very interesting.
Ella:So you were talking about bacteria causing halitosis, which is bad breath. Term for a bad breath. Yes, it's caused by bacteria, like we said. Yeah, it can also be trigger, triggered by medical issues like dry mouth and infections. Now, here's the thing eating smelly food. Eating smelly food, not rushing, not flossing.
Ella:Here's the thing that I found interesting. Why does dry mouth Cause bad breath? Because we established, with stinky feet, bacteria likes Like moist areas, right? So when the bacteria are hanging out, why, in your mouth, cave more when your mouth's dry? It's because I know this answer. Would you like me to say it? Sure, go ahead. It's because, um, saliva works to flush out the bacteria, or flush the bacteria through our body, yeah, and so when your mouth is dry, it doesn't have that thing to keep flushing the bacteria through. I thought that was so Fascinating because it's it's the opposite of what you expect, right? So more bacteria is gonna build up.
Ella:So when these bacteria build up, well, what makes them Smell then why does this? Well, instead of having sweat to munch down on they, like we said it, they are used to break down back, like, break down not themselves particles, yeah, break down food particles. So if you're not brushing your teeth well enough, or flossing, and you have food stuck in your teeth. That's what the bacteria will target right, start breaking down and when they break down they release like a little burp. They release a little burp of fart, so they release. That breakdown process is what causes the Smell. Yeah, sorry, I just realized my leg was bleeding. So, oh, wait, what I don't know. I scratched my leg on. That's today. Yeah, next week we're doing blood come back. Oh, I was distracted talking because my legs oh, my goodness, okay, hey, mouth burps.
Ella:So regularly brushing or Flossing or even using mouthwash can really help with stinky breath, like listerine, like listerine created by George Lambert Look, good job. Listerine, mouthwash and mouthwash in general isn't a permanent thing, cuz. A lot of people, a Lot of people think, oh, you use that and your bad breath just like out the door, it's gone, right, it's an, it's in the another country. No, it's still there. It's really just bad breath. Go to, let's not do that. No, it actually just like kills off all the bacteria, but they're gonna come back. It doesn't kill off all of them, but it it helps with the bad breath, but it comes back eventually.
Ella:Right Now, we should talk about morning breath. Oh, yeah, cuz, if you have bad breath, then morning bath, morning breath Comes back like a raging fire. Right, I'm a, everyone has morning breath. Yes, morning breath is caused, like we talked about earlier, by dry mouth. Right, when you're asleep, wake up, we're recording.
Ella:Oh, um, when you're asleep, your saliva production relaxes and starts to slow down as well. Also, if you're an open mouth sleeper, you have dry mouth, your mouth is drier, so saliva Just kind of like stops right, dries up that saliva. It dries up the saliva that already there when you wake up, don't you feel like? I always feel like I need something to drink? Oh, yes, but I often can't breathe so through my nose because the cat welcome back to Jackie's medical. So I have a dry mouth in the morning.
Ella:Yes, so morning breath is basically is dry mouth, but it's like every single night which. So that makes it smell worse, because dry mouth just really makes your breath smell bad. Yeah, right, it doesn't have that saliva to flush the bacteria For like, like, generally like eight hours. Um, just stinky breath for eight hours really starts the build up. So, eating smelly food to make sure you have bad breath? Yes, and I have fun fact for you. Oh, so what stinky foods like garlic onions.
Ella:Yeah, you're gonna have, um, the most cloves of garlic eaten in one minute. Would you like to take a guess, like now, think of cloves of garlic. Okay, so, they're not that big, that's like, that's like one, the ones that you peel. Yeah, one munch and then it's down. So, in one minute, how many cloves of garlic do you think you could eat? Um, how many, pretty, if you think about it, it, how many close I eat? Yeah, I think 50. Patrick Bertoletti from Illinois. Oh, in the United States, in 2012. Oh, no, in one minute, eight thirty six cloves of garlic. Dang, that's a lot of guys, a lot, because if you have ever eaten just even a small part of, like, raw Clover garlic, it's really. Yeah, you know, when I gave my answer, I didn't account for the flavor. It's so strong, it is really strong. Okay, um, let's move on to.
Ella:Do you ever stink, even after you've showered or bathed? Yes, what's with that? Well, you're stinky. Oh well, yeah, but like, what's with that in a biology sense? I don't know what is in a biological sense, what is it? Well, I have specifically targeting hair. Yeah, um, say so.
Ella:Let's go back to why does your hair stink? Okay. So I have to tell you, oh, and I've told you this before Okay, sometimes my hair and I am a good shower person, like I scrub my hair gold star, but I, we have very thick hair and I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but sometimes, even after I've showered and scrubbed my hair, you're still stinky, I, my hair still smells in like that. What, oh, is this too much information? This is a lot of information. I'm just being honest. It yeah, and it's not every time.
Ella:Once again, welcome back to Jackie's medical issue. It's not every time, it's just happens, but my hair smells even after I've taken a shower. What is up with that? Okay, doesn't this ever happen to you? I feel like it does Mine, and I still, by the way, I do notice this on little kids too. Right, you can bathe little kids sometimes and even scrub their hair, and they get out and they still smell like dogs.
Ella:Now, for me it's I get out of the shower and I still feel gross. I don't know why. Like I, I feel oily you. That's interesting for someone that has very dry skin. I know it's Really bizarre, but do you think that the oil thing for you was a sensory issue. It might be a sensory thing, okay, so it doesn't have anyone out there who does not know me. I have sensory issues. Welcome back to magical. They're magical, oh, I'll take it. Okay.
Ella:So, obviously, the smell going on the theme of the episode originates from bacteria. Oh, what I know? That's crazy, it's so weird. It's often from your sweat. When you're out sweating outdoors, running along, prancing in the fields yeah, what I do, it's what I do, I don't know about you Mixes with your bacteria, creating smelly acids. That causes a bad smell. Um, also, there are other things that of course, cause smell. Dandruff can irritate your scalp, causing more bacteria To pop up and feast on the dead skin cells, which is terrifying to think about. But it happens gross. And other things Can be external, like pollution, particles, like smoke can get caught. I am the queen of environmental factor, stinky attraction. Well, think about it like I can't.
Ella:We, okay, we go to this one gas station when we're going somewhere once a week to one of those classes and I run in and I get a drink and I come out and they have like a Adel, not a deli, like a fast food. Yeah, you know where you can get sandwiches and stuff in there, and somehow I I'm in there for what? Five minutes less, yeah, and she comes back out and she smells like grease. Every time it's like I am the magnet to Stinky smells because I don't smell. Yeah, I think it's also amplified because of your sense of smell. Yeah, but you smell it too bad because I get in the car and you're like, oh yeah, we start keeping perfume in the car.
Ella:It's so bad. It's bad like if I'm Out with some smokers and I'm not, I don't smoke. Yeah, I'm the one that comes home smelling like smoke, and no one else, of course. The same way, if I'm right around a campfire, I'm the one that comes back into the tent or whatever cabin Tent haha, that's a good one, she is not a camper. No, into the cabin, I'm the one that comes back in and smelling like smoke, and no one else does. So I don't, why am I the stink attractor? I don't see it signed. I did not research that. I don't think you can, I don't. That might be the research to talk about with a therapist and or doctor, or both, or Medical doctor.
Ella:So, getting back on track, there's been a lot of derailing today. So weird, why do you stink when you get out of the shower? Specifically, okay, here, right? Well, that's the question, one of the things that you told me, and I never knew this, but actually you just said this to me a couple of weeks ago. You said that you, you, when I came out and I said that I was like I scrubbed my hair and you said I Think you're using too much conditioner. Do you remember this? Yes, you said it. I read. You had read somewhere that conditioner can trap the bacteria. Yes, so Not correctly.
Ella:Washing the soap out of your hair can lead to too much oil buildup on your head, trapping stinky bacteria, and Conditioner is made to. So when you shower, you're rinsing the protective oils off of your head. It's there to Protect you, protect you, protect your skin. So you're rinsing that off with the shampoo. So that's one of the reasons you put on conditioner is to kind of Quickly reapply that, correct? Yeah, yes, okay, I believe that's true. I did not look that up, I believe I just knew that.
Ella:Okay, um, so if you're using too much conditioner, it just Trap everything down and traps the dirt and bacteria in there that you didn't rinse off. I, especially if you didn't scrub your hair out after the conditioner. Enough, right. And you said that to me. You are like I think you're used and I do, because my hair is so thick and dry. I Do use a lot of conditioner. Yeah, I mean same, I use a ridiculous amount. So. But you said that to me and I was like, oh huh, but the thing is, washing your hair too much can remove the important oils. Well, I don't think you have to worry about that in this house. Oh, yeah, but say, if you're showering every single day, yeah, you're removing the good stuff, you're moving the good stuff, which fosters bad bacteria, and then you're also stinky. So there's really like a balance you need to pick, okay, like between showering once a week in 14 times a week. Yes, you, you, we need, we all need to find a metal ground. You speak for yourself, okay, I speak for myself, okay, all right, so I might do a conditioner experiment and see, okay, if we end up doing this, we will post about it. I'll let you know, even if you don't care. Yes, I, okay, let's move on.
Ella:Let's talk about what you've been waiting for, your friend and my favorite Stinky favorite subject stinky poo, da da Um. So why is poop stink? Yeah, and why does poo stink sometimes but not other times? Oh hey, what did one smelly poo say to the other? What? I'm just here to poop a smile on your face. Oh no, oh, that was really bad. Why do the ones that you say are really bad make me laugh the hardest? That makes sense. This, this all makes sense. So, if you don't know, during digestion, your bodies produce enzymes. Digestion is what happens when you eat in the food goes to your stomach. Um, your body produces these helpful enzymes and acids that help break down the food in your stomach. Yes, it's basically Poop is fermented food, waste?
Ella:Hmm, fermented what? As as a result of the digestion? Though? Let me explain the first part. Okay, some parts of the food that our body can't use, because one of the reasons, the reason that we break down food, is that to absorb whatever we can into our body nutrients or whatever and there are some parts of the food that your body can't use when it breaks it down, and that's what ends up as waste. Waste is also poo, or your feet, or feces. Yeah, that's what comes out of your body when you go to the bathroom. So the stinkiness of the poo comes from you'll be surprised Bacteria, bacteria that lives inside of our intestines, and so there's good bacteria and bad bacteria, just like anywhere else, of course. So, basically, uh, like I was saying, poop is fermented food waste.
Ella:Uh, now, what is fermentation? That's a good question, because that's, that's a big word. What does that mean? Well, explained by lab manager calm. Um, fermentation is the process of sugars being broken down by enzymes, of microorganisms, in the absence of oxygen. That's a lot of words. Yeah, basically, it breaks it down. They release gases and chemicals. Yes, it means during that.
Ella:To put it more simply in the context of what we're talking about, it's during digest, digestion. Your food is being broken down by different parts of bacteria. So, yeah, of course it's caused by bacteria. We can't escape it. So why does sometimes? First of all, everyone's poo stings, yeah, so don't worry about that. And, of course, your diet and certain medical issues and medicines you're taking can also affect the smell. Yeah, so someday Um poo smells differently for everyone.
Ella:Yay, like Ella said, there are several factors. Each poo is a special snowflake, and some days your poo smells really strong, maybe, yeah, and other days hardly at all. Um, a lot of that comes from your diet. Honestly, like their foods, other foods like, uh, onions, garlics, vegetables, oh, spicy food, garlic is really the culprit and like bacteria, garlic and garlic, so, um, the those all have really strong smelling compounds and they pass through your digestive system easily and they can. That's what affects your feces, yeah, and um, how your body breaks down, certain foods can affect the smell. Um, if there are foods that can't be fully digested, sometimes those will have a stronger smell. Oh, oh, that makes sense.
Ella:Also, each of us has a little unique microbiome going on in our stomach, our gut microbiome biome. Um, so that's everyone's little community of bacteria having a party in your stomach all the time. The food is random from the sky. These little lads are down there, little lads. So, depending on the balance of your gut bacteria, that's going to affect the smell on your poo.
Ella:Now I have a question that I don't know the answer to. Oh, okay, and I don't know if you do either. Okay, we might have to look this up and put it in the post. Um, is it better or worse to have more gut bacteria? Well, it depends on the kinds of gut bacteria. Okay, so they're good and bad kinds. You want a balance of the good ones in your stomach so to do their jobs. But if you have a very small amount of gut or an imbalanced amount, that's an overall like pretty negative thing. Yeah, well, okay, yeah, it can be give you gas, okay, um, a lot of the. Uh.
Ella:One of the things that people might not think about is the amount of water that you drink can affect your poo smell. What if you have, if you drink a lot of water, staying hydrated, it helps move things through your digestive system and it can help also reduce the amount of odor causing compounds. So if you are very hydrated, chances are your poo might smell less. But also, if you're super hydrated and then you go and you eat like garlic onions and if you're drinking garlic water, right, then it might be a different story Hydration can affect the smelliness of your poo. That's crazy. Also, medications and supplements yes, so if you're taking certain vitamins which are supplements or you're on a certain medication, that can affect how your poo smells. If you have any underlying health conditions yeah, so, like gastrointestinal problems or other things going on.
Ella:Okay, before we do our tutors and a lie, I have some fun facts that just accumulated for the end. Let's hear it, okay. Stinky hair is also called smelly hair syndrome. Oh no, you're going to say that to me a lot now, aren't you? Ayo, you have in the smelly hair syndrome, so I don't know if that's an official name. It kind of seemed like it was. Yeah, I think it is.
Ella:Also, I think we didn't mention this, but I think we covered this. I don't remember which episode we covered. We talked about hair going to bed with your hair wet. Yeah, oh, that's one of our first episodes actually. Yeah, so show a little grace when you're listening to that one. It's just, that's okay. We say that like we're not as chaotic, no, but I think we've gotten a little better. We've gotten better. We're doing pretty good. So if you listen to some of our first ones, just keep that in mind. Yeah, we're new.
Ella:Was it wear coat or cat or catch a cold? I think it was that one. Yeah, that was our first one. Wow, look at you. Yeah, oh, my goodness.
Ella:Anyway, going to bed with your hair wet, like putting your hair in a ponytail, and going to bed with your hair wet, which I do often Right, you can grow fungus in your hair. It's all starting to come together, actually, even like some yeast, which is the type of fungus, so that can cause a smell too. So if you find that your hair is smelling this is just a side note for everyone If you find that your hair is smelling, maybe dry your hair before bed. Right, and you're someone who goes to bed a lot with your hair wet, like you take your bath at night or your shower at night and go, that might be the cause. Oh, anyway, go ahead. So your fun fact is I have stinky hair syndrome. Yeah, you have smelly hair syndrome.
Ella:By the way, that squeaking that you keep hearing is Ella's chair. Is my old? How old? There's? Like a eight, nine year old chair. We had a fight about it before, not really, but like we talk about this every time because every time we had words about it before we started recording. Every time I move slightly, it makes a really loud creak, and when I'm editing the podcast, radio silence, just real quick. Case in point that is not me farting. When I'm editing the podcast, she has to edit out Ella's farting. I swear I'm not Well, she might be Unimportant. Unimportant, that is my chair. Okay, I really need to get a new podcasting chair, true?
Ella:Anyway, while you're supposed to brush for around two minutes, how long do you think the average person brushes their teeth? Uh, 30 seconds Around 45 seconds at max. Yeah, that's. How many times a day do you brush your teeth? Two, most of the time. Sometimes you're just really tired and you don't want to get out of bed to brush your teeth at night. Okay, how many times do you brush your teeth? At least three, oh, my goodness, maybe more. This is why you don't stink. It's a thing for me. Sometimes in the morning I brush my teeth, then take a shower and then brush my teeth again before I start getting ready. I don't think this is noted or earlier.
Ella:She also has sensory issues. You couldn't tell. What does that have to do with brushing my teeth? I feel like that's some sort of sensory issue. I don't know. Maybe like an OCD thing, I don't know. Maybe I don't know.
Ella:I think it's around 30% of the population has chronic bad breath. Oh, yeah, that's like 29% too much. Yeah, this is my favorite. Howtophobia is the fear of bad breath. That's a justified fear. I agreed.
Ella:Oh, you kind of mentioned this about the water with poop, but poop is 75% water. Nice, nice, oh, this was my favorite. A chemical, that is. So you talked about the stuff that makes cheese and sweat correct Smell, similar, yes, yes, or the same, right, a chemical that is commonly a part of poop stink. That is how I wrote it.
Ella:Indole is also part of flour scents. What, yeah? Which flowers it does corpse flowers. When I researched it, I don't think it's specified. But how? That's bizarre, that's so weird. Okay, hey, that's everything. I forgot to tell you.
Ella:My stinky poo joke. I don't know what's your stinky poo joke. I mean another stinky poo joke, another stinky. What's a poo's favorite game? A poop man. Ah, I'm so disappointed in this. All this came from because we just spent time at a lake area hotel and they had an arcade. They had an arcade and Ella played an obscene amount of Pac-Man. I just want you to know Poop man, poop man was pretty good. What's a poo's favorite game? Hide and stink. That was good. That was good. I like that.
Ella:Okay, here are two truths. Let's see what our two truths are like. I'll say them and you say if there are truth or lie. Okay, hope I don't mess this up, me too. Number one, don't embarrass me. Number one Stinky feet and stinky cheese can have the same bacteria. That is true. True, the term halitosis was made up by the Listerine mouthwash people. That is true. That is so crazy. Oh, you know what? I think I said this wrong, so this might be an interesting Wait.
Ella:Too much water, oh no, too much water can make smelly or poo. I did say it. Right, that is the lie, I thought. When you said it, I got confused because I was like, wait, did she do all truths? Too much water can make smelly or poo, when in fact, false, it's opposite it makes it less stinky. Yeah, if you have, um, if you hydrate a lot, you may have less stinky poo than normal. Okay, other people? Well, I don't think this episode stunk. I thought it was sensational. It was sensational. It might have been crazy and chaotic, but it did not stink and that is the important thing. That's right. See you next time. Okay, have a great day, guys. Bye.
Ella:Hey, thanks for listening. If you like what we're doing here, we'd love your five star review to help us reach more families and also to let Ellen know that her homeschool research isn't going to waste. Seriously, it takes forever. But hey, if you want to check out more of our stuff, we're going to have a new episode every Tuesday and if you want to see some of the older episodes. They'll always be there. You'll just have to scroll down a little bit. Also, you might not know this, but we have a free Buster deduction sheet over on our website, parentbusterscom, and actually it's an entire downloadable fun pack and it's all free and you can download it. And on the Buster deduction sheet you can follow along with every episode, write down your facts and there's a place to do two truths and a lie on it. And we also have a companion learning post called learning after listening, where every single podcast episode we do. You can continue your learning over on parentbusterscom. Yeah, so just head over there and check it out. Bye, thanks.