Beefy Smells

Body odour is a personal thing.

I recall when I first married into an Asian family one of first things I learnt was that to many Asians, Europeans reek of beef. A simple factor being that meat forms a significant part of the western diet and this is not so in the largely rice diet of Eastern countries.

Dairy products are another point of differentiation . A visit to a New Zealand small cheese producer once elicited a bout of dry retching from one of my sisters-in-law.

It is therefore not surprising to learn through a recent British TV science programme that certain diets result in stronger body odours than others.

A scientific test proved that a curry diet was most prominent amongst the odours that lingered, through the pores of the skin.

Having sat on Singaporean public transport these past two years I can vouch that this is so!

There have been a number of complaints in the newspaper in recent times about the quality or lack of airconditioning on the MRT in peak hours. With the increase in taxi fares more and more people are resorting to public transport.

The government's response has been to increase the frequency of buses and trains which is good news for those of us who queue in the mornings.