According to a recent BBC Future article, your body fluids – not only your blood, but also your tears, sweat and earwax – can reveal clues about your health, and more. They can also reveal the hidden workings of your body than was once realised!
Blood
It is possible to detect just about everything that you have eaten, or that is going on in your body from your blood work. The reason your blood is usually the first source of information for diagnostic reasons, and why a battery of varying type of tests can be carried out on a single blood sample!
Earwax
Though, its medical diagnostic property is still under investigation. But unlike blood, earwax is a fatty substance, which means certain molecules may concentrate there and be easier to detect than in more watery fluids. Certain secondary products and end products of metabolism – that is, the breaking down of food into energy – may dissolve better in fats than in liquids, thus making earwax an important source for their discovery.
For example, Maple Syrup Urine Disorder – a genetic condition in which people can’t break down certain parts of proteins – can be diagnosed by sniffing earwax: “It [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][the earwax] smells of maple syrup” says Dr George Preti of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, in Philadelphia.
Sweat
For decades it has been used to screen newborns for cystic fibrosis – a genetic disease which affects the body and causes disability and death -, and which alters the balance of sodium and chloride in their sweat.
Now, patches that can be worn on the skin are being developed for athletes, which could monitor changes in the balance of electrolytes that might signal that they are about to “crash” because of dehydration or physical tiredness. And this can be done without having to be stuck with a needle! This information is transferred wirelessly from an electronic sweat-sensor, without you having to think about it!!
But because there are lots of microbial activity happening on our skin (did you know that!) which would muddle up whatever information is got; hence, their clinical use will be limited, as the results got will not be as accurate as you would get from blood samples.
Poo
The best place to look for changes in body bacteria is your poo. If your poo sample and your DNA sample are collected for information about you, doctors will be able to tell much more about you from your poo than your DNA!
This is because although the genes of any two people – say, identical twins – are approximately 99.9% similar, we only have 10-20% of our microbes in common. And recent research suggests the type of microbes in our stomach and intestines – and therefore our poo – are influenced by what we eat, and where we have been living!
For this reason, differences between Europeans, Africans and South Americans can be identified, as well as differences between those who live in different countries; this, being from data collected from twins – one living in England, the other in Scotland!
In much the same way, the smell of earwax and body odour varies across countries and continents.
You see? I wasn’t horsing around when I said that your body fluids and fats paint a complete picture of who you are!
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