Foot smell

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 smell. It's perfectly normal to have bacteria on your foot skin, and it doesn't ordinarily produce a noticeable smell, but sweat attracts bacteria and gives them a whole lot to feed on.

Fortunately, smelly feet generally can be controlled with a few preventive measures:

Practice good foot hygiene to keep bacteria levels at a minimum.

Persistent foot smell can indicate a low-grade infection or a severe case of hereditary sweating. In these cases, your doctor may prescribe a special ointment. You apply it to the feet at bedtime and then wrap your feet with an impermeable covering such as kitchen plastic wrap.

People grow up believing foot smell is unpleasant making people embarrassed about how their feet smell. Children often grow up making fun of the fact that their foot smell (such as "Trick or Treat, smell my feet...", etc.). For this reason, in Western countries, where shoes are worn for most of the day, some people avoid removing their shoes around others. This is paradoxical, since being shoeless as much as possible is one of the best ways to reduce foot smell. Reactions to foot smell can vary across cultures; for example, there is less foot smell stigma in countries where shoes are removed upon entering the home.