Diet to possibly solve or improve fecal odor - a low sulfur diet
I recently made a post [on reddit] where I mentioned that the worlds (now deceased) top TMAU (and human odor) expert said that he thought that fecal smells are probably actually sulfur smells. He mentioned that he has studied human fecal material, and that most of the smells are different sulfur smells. This post is extending on the ideas of that post, so please take a look at my prior post first if the topic of FBO is relevant to you: https://www.reddit.com/r/TMAU/comments/1erhgsl/around_50_of_people_diagnosed_with_tmau_complain/
This post will cover the idea of a low sulfur diet to try and control this problem. I need to emphasize right at the start that this is not a proven idea to work, and nobody really knows how well it will work or not. However, I do think that this is the only plausible path to solving FBO at the root, which is why I would certainly try this if this is what I had. I solved my problem a long time ago through a vegan detox diet, and I did not have a fecal smell in my case. Nobody will really know how well this diet works unless people try it and report back here on what happens.
I have a high degree of confidence that the doctor was correct when he said that fecal smells are really some kind of sulfur smell. This would mean that the odor likely has one of the components of the smell of fecal matter, but is not a perfect match for it. It's probably not actually as bad as the smell of actual fecal matter, which is made up of a blend of different smells all coming together. FBO probably involves one particular sulfur compound, and this compound may not actually be contained in human fecal matter, but rather may resemble one of its components in some way.
Dr. Preti (the expert I have cited above about fecal/sulfur smells) found that around 1/3 of people with malodor complaints turned out to have TMAU, and 90% of them did not smell like fish. Only about 1/3 of that group (3.5% of the total group) were aware that they smelled like fish. See my post on this: https://www.reddit.com/r/TMAU/comments/1eets7j/it_turns_out_that_tmau_is_much_less_rare_than/
TMAU is usually caused by a defective FM03 enzyme. It turns out that this enzyme is also responsible for the oxidizing (neutralizing, to put it simply) of certain sulfur compounds. See this link for the technical details if interested: https://www.tesble.com/10.2174/157016007782793683
See page 306 of that paper for a list of sulfur containing drugs oxygenated by the FM03 enzyme. They had to actually do a study on how certain drugs were metabolized by people with FM03 issues to see what happened. There is no formal data on how the FM03 enzyme may affect sulfur containing foods as it has not been studied, but people diagnosed with TMAU commonly report fecal/sulfur smells. You may not have TMAU, but if you have some kind of fecal odor, it is likely some kind of sulfur smell, and trying to control it with diet is probably the one plausible path to (possibly) dealing with this at the root.
It is very important to do a 'sulfur challenge' to see if dietary sulfur is causing problems, just like how they do a 'choline challenge' to diagnose TMAU. This means you need to find the nerve to intentionally consume large amounts of sulfur rich foods for a limited period of time to see if the odor get worse. It would be best to try eating either fresh apricots or peaches for a week or so (in addition to your regular diet) to confirm those don't make symptoms worse. Then you would try eating dried apricots/peaches which contains lots of sulfur, unlike the fresh ones. You should be able to find dried apricots at most grocery stores. Use either fresh and dry apricots or fresh and dry peaches. Don't use fresh peaches and then dried apricots to avoid possibly messing this experiment up.
If you tried eating lots of meat for example, and your condition gets worse, you wouldn't know if it was the sulfur or other things that were causing that.
If the results of the dietary sulfur challenge are inconclusive, then the next step is to try a sulfur supplement to see what happens. This could lead to a (temporary) severe odor if sulfur is the issue - which is why you should start with a dietary test, and only try this after if it is needed. The available sulfur supplements are dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM). These are OTC supplements you don't need a prescription for. Remember to follow the dosing instructions and not exceed them in an effort to see what happens.
If you skip the sulfur challenge test, then you will have a much harder time getting motivated to stick with the diet to give it a chance to work, since you will have no idea if it is actually doing anything. Another key reason to do this is that most people think they have a fecal odor because people are making crude comments about them smelling 'like shit' or 'like ass' and are assuming that people are talking about a literal fecal smell. People may be just referring to a bad smell they can't quite describe in words when they say someone smells 'like shit', rather than referring to a literal fecal odor. If I say something 'tastes like shit', I am not speaking literally.
You will have to do some research on how to set up a low sulfur diet, but it doesn't look too terrible or extreme from what I have seen. Here are some links with information about what a low sulfur diet would look like:
https://www.gidoctor.net/dietary-therapy-blog/low-sulfur-diet
https://www.gicare.com/gi-health-resources/colon-gas-flatus-prevention/
https://www.usenourish.com/blog/low-sulfur-diet
https://drruscio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/LowSulfurDiet-1.pdf
https://www.reddit.com/r/HydrogenSulfideSIBO/comments/1bosbhi/help_needed_low_sulfur_meal_plans/
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/low-sulfur-diet-benefits/#gsc.tab=0
The next link is scientific paper that established the amount of sulfur in different foods. Apparently this is the most recently available information, but keep in mind this was made in 1939, so accuracy is not 100% guaranteed.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1264524/pdf/biochemj01022-0143.pdf
Almost everyone I have heard about curing this kind of condition with diet (including myself) reported it took multiple months to work, probably because there were large internal buildups of the problem compound that needed to be cleared out. I would suggest giving this diet 6 months to work before quitting it. Of course, if it works then it would be a permanent thing. I want to emphasize again that I do not know the odds of this diet actually working, but I think it is the only plausible path to dealing with FBO at the root level, which is why I think it is worth trying. Whether this diet can actually cure this condition, or only improve it to a more limited degree is unknown.
In my prior post, I linked to a youtube interview for a woman with a TMAU like disorder who reported that she monitors and restricts the level of sulfur in her diet. I have to imagine that she wouldn't do this unless she had reason to believe it was doing something: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUpu7fwdFmU&list=PLq8UYucyc_R0AoneEav06LFB3iXTIfqRJ&index=11
If you look at my prior post (linked at top of this one) and see the replies, someone has replied that limiting sulfur intake seems to improve things for them.
*** If you try this diet, please report back on this subreddit with the results - whether they are good, bad, or somewhere in between. This is vital for helping the broader community! Thank you.
