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Foot odor often results from wearing shoes and/or socks for many hours, as they provide warm, moist conditions for bacteria and/or fungi to thrive.
Usually people find foot odor unpleasant, while those who have it may be embarrassed. For this reason, some people avoid removing their shoes around others, or they are asked to keep them on or put them back on. This is paradoxical, since being shoeless as much as possible is one of the best ways to prevent the feet from becoming smelly in the first place.
The smell of foot odor is usually a warm, cheesy scent, but can sometimes be ammonia-like. Brevibacteria are considered a major cause of foot odor, as they ingest dead skin on the feet, especially on the soles and between the toes, converting in the process the amino acid methionine to methane thiol, which has a sulfuric aroma. Brevibacteria also give cheeses such as Limburger, Bel Paese, Port du Salut, and Muenster their characteristic pungency.[1] (http://www.wheatoncollege.edu/Quarterly/q2003fall/bacteria.html)
Among the earliest foot deodorants were aromatic herbs such as allspice, which nineteenth-century Russian soldiers would put in their boots. [2] (http://www.foodreference.com/html/fallspice.html)
Some types of powders and activated charcoal insoles, such as Odor Eaters, have been developed to combat foot odor, but they are not as effective as thoroughly washing feet, choosing shoes with proper ventilation, changing socks regularly, and only wearing shoes when necessary.
Since many martial arts are practiced barefoot, odor can pose a problem. It is said that some Tae Kwon Do masters have people smell each other's feet and will severely penalize those with malodorous feet. This can include doing hundreds of push-ups or other corporal punishment.
Although most people find foot odor repulsive, a minority of people find foot odor sexually arousing. This can be part of a foot fetish. Some people also have fetishes for the sock or shoe odor that usually accompanies sweaty feet (for example as part of a shoe fetish), or enjoy foot worship. (See also: mysophilia).
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