6 Bizarre Side Effects of Foods You Eat Every Day

We cram so much stuff into our bodies in the course of a day or week that if we get sick, it's almost impossible to pin down what caused it. What if we told you that the last round of diarrhea you got wasn't from that shady Indian restaurant, but from your chewing gum? Or that your body odor isn't due to your bathing habits, but the steak you ate last night?

Yeah, it turns out the foods you've eaten this week can mess you up in all sorts of unexpected ways. For instance ...

#6. Red Meat Makes You Smell Bad to Women

With the exception of ATV racing, nothing expresses humanity's dominance over Mother Nature quite like taking a bite out of one of her beloved creatures. Red meat is full of muscle-building protein, meaning that when combined with exercise, eating meat gives you a totally ripped body that the ladies won't be able to resist.

Getty
Just oil yourself up with the still-warm blood of your latest kill and you're ready to be served.

That is, unless those ladies place a high emphasis on not smelling like garbage. In a 2006 study, 17 men were put onto a two-week diet -- one group consumed red meat, while the other did not. At the end of the two weeks, samples of their body odor were collected and presented to 30 women, who were made to take a whiff of each odor and assess it on its "pleasantness, attractiveness, masculinity and intensity," though we can't imagine a vial of man sweat doing anything but unequivocally failing those first two categories.

Getty
It took us to dinner first, so we felt kinda obliged to take a whiff.

The odor of those on the non-meat diet was consistently rated as more attractive, even when the groups switched diets and were tested again a month later. According to the scientists, these results suggest that eating red meat has a negative effect on "perceived body odor hedonicity," which we assume is science-talk for "smelling like a goddamn werewolf."

Getty
"Can you smell wet dog?"

So far, there's no medical explanation for why this occurs, although the popular theory is that undigested toxins in the meat get secreted through the pores of the skin. That either generates the meaty stink directly, or the odor is caused by bacteria that subsequently gather on the skin to feed on the secreted toxins.

Either way, this helps explain how white guys with dreadlocks get laid, despite totally sucking at that acoustic guitar they insist on playing at every party. Each missed shower builds up their natural, vegetarian body musk into a stink cloud that women find irresistible.

#5. Sugar-Free Chewing Gum Can Cause Diarrhea

If you like having fresh breath and looking like you just don't give a damn, odds are that you chew gum. Some dentists even recommend it, because it increases saliva production and promotes jaw exercise.

Getty
And no one likes flabby jaws!

And if you get the sugar-free stuff, hell, what's the downside? You don't swallow it, so it's like all of the benefits of candy with none of the getting fat. But you might have a problem in the opposite direction.

The culprit is a sweetener called sorbitol, a chemical that is found in many sugar-free gums, and one that is poorly absorbed by the intestines. Substances that can't be absorbed tend to shoot right through. So what we're saying is, sorbitol is a laxative. Don't get us wrong, it's fine in small amounts. But if you're the type of person who always has to have gum in your mouth, and is always swapping it out for a fresh piece ... don't stray far from a toilet.

Getty
"At least I still feel fresh!"

This was discovered when an article from the British Medical Journal presented cases of two patients who displayed some serious reverse-Captain America weight loss, done entirely by way of thundergut diarrhea explosion.

At first the doctors were baffled by the symptoms, but they soon discovered that the patients chewed 15 to 20 sticks of sorbitol-containing gum a day. When the patients were made to give it up, the symptoms stopped and they were able to healthily gain back the weight they had lost, though presumably not before garroting someone with Bubble Tape in a withdrawal-fueled haze.

Getty
"WITHOUT WORRY-FREE CONFIDENCE THIS IS THE CLOSEST I CAN GET TO YOU!"

The authors of the article state that excessive sorbitol consumption can result in a loss of up to 20 percent of your total body weight, making it an ideal target for the next fad diet.

#4. Certain Fruits and Vegetables Give You a Sexy Tan

This is one of those things that you'd think only works in a cartoon. "Eat too many carrots, and you'll turn orange!" But it happens. And it may help you get dates.

Getty
So much food on the brain right now.

First, you need to learn what carotenoids are. They're color pigments that can be found in several fruits and vegetables such as carrots, plums and cucumbers. They contribute to human skin color, giving it a yellowish tint. In excessive amounts, they can even cause yellow-orange discoloration of the skin. So they're essentially a biological version of Cheeto dust, if Cheeto dust made you look vaguely jaundiced and/or anemic.

Getty
"This 10-carrot-per-day habit is killing my liver."

So, unless you have an extremely serious carrot-eating problem or are a cartoon rabbit, why should you care? Well, studies have shown that there is a noticeable connection between carotenoid coloration and how others see you. Specifically, how much they want to see you naked.

A series of studies by three U.K. scientists looked into the relationship between the pigments that affect skin color (melanin and carotenoid) and perceived appearance. The results showed a preference for light, yellow skin tone, with participants being more appreciative of carotenoid coloration than melanin coloration. They also expressed an unnatural fondness for Nick Stahl's performance in Sin City.

Wikipedia
"It's the 'child killer' tan the whole nation is talking about!"

The scientists conducting the studies concluded that carotenoid coloration is "a valid cue to human health which is perceptible in a way that is relevant to mate choice." Basically, the yellow/orange tint is indicative of a healthy lifestyle, which portrays the person bearing said tint as a more desirable romantic companion. So if you're continually failing with the opposite sex, theoretically it's because you just aren't orange enough.*

*We'll just let you make your own Jersey Shore joke there, we're kind of tired of them.

Getty
As tired as Snooki is of deep-throating carrots. Zing!