Polyester Clothing Stink more than Cotton after a Work Out
For this study, the researchers recruited 26 healthy adults who were instructed to take an intensive, hour-long bicycle spinning class. The researchers collected the participants' t-shirts and incubated them for 28 hours. The researchers used a trained odor panel to inspect the shirts. They also examined the taxonomy of the bacteria found on the shirts and in the axillaries.
According to the study published online recently in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, the major type of odor-causing bacteria on clothing is micrococci and researchers found that micrococci grow better on polyester than on cotton.
They are identified for their enzymatic potential to transform long-chain fatty acids, hormones, and amino acids into smaller-volatile-compounds, which contain a typical malodor, said Chris Callewaert of Ghent University, Belgium.
