Women have a better sense of smell than men, at least when it comes to detecting underarm odour.Researchers collected underarm secretions from 59 volunteers — 23 men and 36 women — and pooled them in two batches, male and female.
A different group of 20 men and 20 women sniffed a batch of secretions and then a chemical fragrance, working through about two dozen fragrances applied to each batch of secretions.
Each batch of secretions and each fragrance was considered separately, and each fragrance was rated for its ability to conceal the smell of the underarm odour. The results appear online in The Flavour and Fragrance Journal.
When the armpit odour or the chemical fragrances were presented separately, there was little difference in the perceptions of men and women.
But when the chemicals were used to hide the smell of armpit secretions, sex differences were apparent. For men, 18 of the chemicals succeeded against female underarm odour, and 6 against male odour. But for women, only two worked against female odour, and none worked to hide male odour.
George Preti, the senior author and a member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, suggested that these odours may be important to women in mate selection and reproduction.
“This study highlights how women receive biological odours even in the presence of fragrances meant to block them,” he said.
“Biological information is present in underarm secretions, even when you try to screen it out.” The New York Times
From TODAY, Health – Tuesday, 28-April-2009
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