日本花王公司成功發現汗臭成分

Recently the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

汗臭さだけブロック…花王が消臭成分を発見

　花王は鼻の細胞に作用して、汗臭さなど特定の悪臭だけを感じにくくさせる消臭成分を発見したと発表した。

　これまでの消臭剤は強力な香りで悪臭を覆い隠すか、脱臭成分ですべての臭いを吸い取るものだったが、新技術を使えば、狙った臭いだけを感じなくすることができる。今後研究をさらに進め、５年後をめどに商品化したい考えだ。

　今回発見したのは、汗臭さのもととなるヘキサン酸だけを感じにくくする成分で、３種類の香り成分を調合して作った。

　鼻の奥の粘膜細胞には約４００種類の嗅覚センサーがあり、センサーと香り成分が結合すると、脳が臭いを感じる。花王は、５種類の嗅覚センサーがヘキサン酸と結合したときに汗臭さを感じることを突き止め、ヘキサン酸よりもこれらセンサーに付着しやすい香り成分を探しだした。研究員３人が試験したところ、ヘキサン酸による悪臭の強さの感じ方が５分の１以下になったという。

（2014年1月9日07時29分  読売新聞）

(試譯文)

   Kao announced that by working on the cells of the nose they discovered a deodorization ingredient which could make it hard to feel a specific bad smell, such as the smell of sweat.

   Up to now the deodorizer could cover the bad smell by a powerful scent or sucked up all the smell by some deodorization ingredients. If the new technology was used, only the smell that it aimed at for deodorization could be made impossible to feel. It was expected that with further advanced research, it could be commercialized within five years from now.

   What was discovered this time was the ingredient of the smell of sweat solely generated by the hexanoic acid, and it could be made difficult to feel by a combination of three aroma components.

   There were about 400 kinds of sense-of-smell sensors in the mucosa cell in the inner part of the nose, and if the sensor and fragrant ingredient joined together, the brain would feel a smell. Kao traced the feeling of the smell from sweat and found out five kinds of sense-of-smell sensors that could combined with hexanoic acid and they tried to discover some scent ingredients that could adhere to these sensors easier than hexanoic acid. It was said that during an examination, three researchers found the perception on the strength of the bad smell that came from the hexane acid became 1/5 or less.

(07:29 on January 9, 2014    Yomiuri Shimbun)

This discovery is good news for those who sweat a lot.