There is one specific smell people give off that suggest they are close to death

A hospice nurse has explained what the 'smell of death' is actually made of as she responded to people's questions asking her what it meant when they could smell it on someone.

End of life care specialist Julie was explaining that people often asked her why their loved ones smelled different near the end of life and she put it down to two gases that are released by the body as it decomposes.

"Putrescine and cadaverine... are the gases that come off a body that make the smell of death. People ask me all the time 'I smell a certain smell coming from my loved one', it could be those gases," she said before giving their definition.

"These are the two gases that are responsible for the distinctive smell of death, they are produced with bacteria breakdown from amino acids ornithine and lysine.

"Putrescine, cadaverine, that's what's making the smell of death."

The hospice nurse said many people asked her why they could smell when someone was dying. (Getty Stock Photo)

Those who have experienced the 'smell of death' often describe it as 'nothing I've ever smelled before', an unforgettable and incredibly unpleasant odour.

While the smell is usually associated with people who have already died there are some who've said they can smell death on people who are soon going to die.

It's something that many who have visited a loved one in their final days experienced, and Hospice UK said that something people should expect in the last days of life was a 'distinctive smell'.

They said: "Changes to the metabolism of the dying person can cause their breath, skin and body fluids to have a distinctive smell similar to that of nail polish remover.

"If a person is dying from bowel or stomach cancer, this smell might be quite strong."

There are many changes which can occur when a person is in their final days of life, as along with a particular smell they may have some regrets and make a specific sound known as the 'death rattle'.

When someone starts making this sound, it usually means they've only got around a day remaining, and it has been described as a 'crackling, wet noise'.

The cause of the death rattle is a build up of fluids such as saliva in the throat as a dying person's ability to clear them through swallowing or coughing may no longer be possible.

It's a normal part of the dying process, though the distinctive sound can be very distressing for loved ones to hear.