Odors secreted by women during ovulation could make them more attractive: Study

A team of researchers from the University of Tokyo has verified how changes in female body odor during ovulation trigger measurable reactions in men, who see women as more attractive and relax when they perceive those smells.

The scientists coordinated more than 20 women to ensure their odors were collected at key moments in their menstrual cycles. The findings of their study, which describes men's reactions to these odors, were published last Monday in the journal iScience.

Their results indicate that certain olfactory compounds present in female body odor increase during ovulation and may influence how men feel.

When men perceived these odors, along with samples of menstrual underarm odor, they perceived the faces of women shown to them, associated with those odors, as more feminine, attractive, and pleasing, compared to images shown without the odor.

Feminine scents also appeared to reduce stress when perceived.

The team says this doesn't prove the existence of pheromones in humans, but that scent could subtly influence how people interact and communicate.

Are they pheromones?

Although they are a a common element of popular culture , especially in romantic movies, the existence of pheromones (chemical substances secreted by the body that could influence the behavior of other individuals of the same species) in humans has not yet been conclusively demonstrated . Their presence has been described in other mammals.

However, researchers from the Departments of Applied Biological Chemistry and Neurointelligence at the University of Tokyo have discovered a process parallel to that pheromone idea, which could trigger a similar behavioral change.

"We identified three components of women's body odor that increase during ovulatory periods, and when men smelled a mixture of "These compounds and an axillary odor indicated that images of women that accompanied these odors seemed more attractive and feminine to them." says one of the authors, University of Tokyo professor Kazushige Touhara.

"We also found that these compounds relaxed the male subjects and even suppressed the increase in the amount of amylase (a biomarker of stress) in their saliva," the researcher added in a statement from the University of Tokyo.

Previous studies have described how female body odor changes throughout the menstrual cycle, and how changes in the ovulatory phase can be perceived by men and considered pleasurable, but until now the specific nature of these odors had not been identified.

How to extract the smell

Touhara and her team used a chemical analysis technique called gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to isolate volatile compounds that vary throughout the phases of the menstrual cycle.

The 20 participating women were followed throughout their menstrual cycle and interviewed about their body temperature and other indicators to collect samples that would help understand the changes occurring.

The tests on the male participants were conducted blindly, so they had no clue as to what they were smelling or why, in order to "reduce or eliminate psychological factors and expectations," Touhara notes.

"We can't say conclusively that the compounds we found that increase during ovulation are human pheromones, but we have found similar compounds in the body," she adds.

The team plans to explore other dimensions of this research , such as expanding the types of participants to eliminate the possibility that a specific genetic trait influenced the results, conducting more in-depth chemical analyses, and studying how ovulatory compounds might affect active areas of the brain related to emotion and perception.

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