why do feet smell?

Answer 1

The main thing that feeds foot smell is sweat. With more than 250,000 sweat glands each, your feet are among the most perspiring parts of the body. In one day, each foot can produce more than a pint of sweat! Sweat is basically just salt and water, though, so it doesn't have a distinctive smell of its own. The smell is actually caused by bacteria on our skin that eats the sweat and excretes waste that has a strong odor. It's perfectly normal to have bacteria on your skin, and it doesn't ordinarily produce a noticeable smell, but sweat attracts bacteria and gives them a whole lot to feed on.

Of course we sweat all over -- our hands have a comparable number of sweat glands, for example -- and most of the rest of our body doesn't particularly stink (the armpits being a notable exception) So what's different about our feet? The answer is our socks and shoes. The sweat our feet excrete can't easily escape into the air like the sweat our hands excretes -- it all collects on our skin and in our socks. The bacteria love this dark, damp feast and have a sort of feeding frenzy. When you take off your shoes, the smell that hits you is all the bacteria excretion that's collected on your feet and in your socks and shoes.

The main reason some people's feet (or more precisely, some people's socks and shoes) smell worse than other people's is that some people sweat more than other people. This is just one of the many variable physiological qualities of human beings. This is also why sometimes your feet smell much worse than at other times -- it all has to do with how much you sweat.

So, since foot odor is caused by bacteria digesting sweat, there are two main ways to reduce the stink. You can:

- decrease the amount of bacteria on your feet
- decrease the amount of sweat that collects on your feet and in your shoes

Reducing the level of bacteria is really a matter of cleanliness. To control the bacteria population on you feet, you should:

- wash your feet with strong anti-bacterial soap
- wear clean socks
- don't wear the same shoes everyday - give a pair of shoes 24 hours or more to air out before wearing them again

Answer 2

Feet smell for two reasons: you wear shoes and your feet sweat. The interaction between your perspiration and the bacteria that thrive in your shoes and socks generates the odour. So any attempt to reduce foot odour has to address both your sweating and your footwear. The feet and hands contain more sweat glands than any other part of the body (about 3,000 glands per square inch) and provide a ready supply of perspiration. You're probably familiar with the phenomenon of sweaty palms, but sweat on your hands doesn't produce the same strong odor as sweaty feet. That's because your hands are usually exposed to the air and the sweat has a chance to evaporate.

Feet, however, are trapped inside shoes, where temperatures can easily reach 102 F. The perspiration moisture combines with the dark warmth to create a fertile breeding ground for the bacteria that normally live on our skin. The bacteria produce isovaleric acid, the substance associated with foot odour. The more moisture there is, the more bacteria proliferate, and the greater the odour. Smelly feet can also be caused by an inherited condition called hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, which primarily affects males. Stress, some medications, fluid intake and hormonal changes also can increase the amount of perspiration your body produces.

Answer 3

It is a build up of bacteria and fungi on the feet that makes them smell. The sweat and skin of your feet and the warmth of your shoes provide a perfect environment for these to grow. Wearing shoes that breathe and absorb the wetness of the sweat change the environment so that the bacteria and fungi no longer have the perfect home.

Answer 4

If Excessive sweating is your problem you'll find here very good tips: http://stop-sweating-now.keysolve.net
About 2%-3% of the general population experience excessive sweating a condition called hyperhidrosis which can occur with or without a trigger.
The most common type is called primary (or focal) hyperhidrosis and it has no known cause, although it seems to run in families. You may have a different type of excessive sweating called secondary (or generalized) hyperhidrosis.
This means that your symptoms may be due to an underlying medical condition or disease (e.g., nerve damage or a hormone disorder), or due to a side effect of a medication you are taking. Talk to your doctor.

Answer 5

mine smell like popcorn.