If you’ve ever watched a dog walk around a park, you’ll know the world is jam-packed with scents and smells that are undetectable to the human nose. Compared to most animals, our ability to pick up scents is poor.

But just because we can’t detect many of the smells around us, doesn’t mean they aren’t important. In fact, scientists now believe our own unique smell could reveal vital clues about our health – starting with the smell of our breath and skin.

“Our breath and skin emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – gases which come from items such as good, fragranced products and the human body,” explains Aoife Morrin, an associate professor of analytical chemistry at Dublin City University, whose current research is focusing on skin VOCs and what a ‘healthy’ scent looks like.

“These gases can give us clues about how healthy our different organs are. For example, the VOCs that come from our breath can give us clues about how healthy our lungs are.”

Why your unique smell could reveal more about your health than you realise