 Cancer prevention is all well and good, but there is a side effect of fenugreek seed consumption. It makes your armpits smell like maple syrup. Analysis of human male armpits sweat after fenugreek ingestion, and yes, it happens to women too. In this study, the strong maple syrup odor, which appears after fenugreek ingestion, was investigated. They had men plaster some gauze pads into their armpits before and after eating a tablespoon of fenugreek seeds. Sweat was collected over a 24-hour period and given to a panel of eight odor assessors to get their take. The experts describe what they smelled in those armpits as cocoa, roast beef, carrots, spicy, gravy. But then honey, rose, and lilac peached like raspberry. I guess it could have been worse. There was one assessor who described one of the fenugreek odor compounds as musty sweet onion socks. Another agreed but thought it was more like fruity floral socks. Of course, there was the boring assessor who was like, uh, it smells like fenugreek. This is a harmless phenomenon. The only reason I bring it up is that there is actually a serious congenital disorder called maple syrup urine disease, a branch chain keto acid urine. It's completely unrelated, but breastfeeding infants with moms using fenugreek to boost their milk production may be misdiagnosed. So if you're breastfeeding and eating fenugreek, just make sure to tell your OB just so they don't worry.