What Causes That Old People Smell?

You walk into your grandparent's home, and there's that odor that you only smell around them or around other senior citizens. It's often described as smelling a bit musty, stale, or like mothballs.

When we're little, it's a bit more annoying, and most of us as kiddos assume it's just our own grandparents. Once we get older, we realize not only are we not alone, but we may even start to smell it when we visit our own parents.

We may smell it when we walk past older people, sit down at a table in a restaurant where they were just dining, or even in an elevator. It's a universal smell that's not just contained inside an older person's home but tends to follow them everywhere.

So what exactly is it?

According to the Scientific American website, this unusual smell is not necessarily unpleasant. Rather, it's just unique to the older generation and lingers like perfume, especially in confined places. Aside from newborn babies, it's the only age group that can have a unique smell that everyone recognizes.

This and newborn baby smells are the only age group that can all share the same smell. 

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It's believed that just like everything else with our bodies changes as we age, the chemical makeup of bacteria mixed with our skin gland secretions change as we get older, according to the Healthline website.

Age-related changes in body odor likely have nothing to do with personal hygiene. Instead, experts think it’s the result of odor compounds and bacteria interacting on the skin. The major odor compound at play is called 2-nonenal.

Basically, the types of bacteria that live on your skin go through various stages in the aging process as do the comical compounds in our body over time. According to Scientific American, scientists call the main odor compound at play "2-nonenal."

2-nonenal only exists in us after we've turned 40, with minimum levels that increase as we age, according to Healthline.

In other words, it's just a natural part of life.