SWEAT FROM WOMEN'S ARMPITS ATTRACTS MEN

Sounds gross?

Researchers from Massachusetts in the US have recently discovered that adding a substance called Athena Pheromone 10:13 to the perfume or cologne of post-menopausal women, greatly enhanced their romantic lives. The said pheromone was reportedly isolated from sweat collected from a young woman's armpit.

Sex Pheromone Spray Boosts Senior Romance By Andy Coghlan
Posted: 19:00 26 January 2005

A mystery chemical that young women deploy as a sex attractant pheromone seems to work for post-menopausal women too.

Joan Friebely of Harvard University, US, and Susan Rako, a private physician in Newton, Massachusetts, US, have studied 44 post-menopausal women. Half added Athena Pheromone 10:13, originally isolated from a woman's armpit sweat, to their perfume while half added a dummy compound. Neither the women nor the researchers knew who was in each group until the results were in.

In diaries kept by the women for six weeks, 41 percent of pheromone users reported more petting, kissing and affection with partners compared with 14% receiving the placebo.

Overall, 68 percent of pheromone users reported increases in at least one of four "intimate socio-sexual behaviours" such as formal dates and sex, as against 41 percent on the placebo.

[New Scientist Breaking News]

Our biology sure has a way of meddling with our romantic life, huh?

If you knew it was a compound from the sweat of your girlfriend's armpit that makes you think she is sexy and alluring, would you still date her? Or kiss her? Would you seek the source of this scent? Would you be disappointed if you found out it seems to come from her armpits?

Pheromones are biochemical substances secreted by animals (humans included) primarily for communication with the same specie. Recently, scientists have found that these substances might be responsible for regulating reproductive behaviors and for marketing one's reproductive status.

This may also be the reason why some men and women prefer their mates less clean (read: does not take a bath every day) so they can smell and enjoy their so-called "natural scents."