Pheromones - The scent of love and lust, or is it? Are you drawn to your partner through olfaction (smell)?

SIMPLE AND SOPHISTICATED, FRESH AND AUDACIOUS, MYSTERIOUS AND ICONIC.

These are the words the cosmetic and fragrance company Chanel use to convince women that their perfume Chanel no 5 is the ultimate aphrodisiac that will bring men to their knees.

Through olfaction (the action or capacity of smelling; the sense of smell) people can pick up of all sorts of interesting things about one another.

The sense of smell, seems to play an underappreciated role in romance and other human affairs.

A study was done in 2010 at the Brooklyn art gallery where they gathered a few people to a party where they smell each other’s warn t-shirts form an unidentified bag. If you liked what you smell you could go on a date with the owner. This was a great success proving that love is in the smell and become known as “Pheromone Parties” which is now held in Los Angeles and London too.

Do the human species have pheromones like our animal counter parts which lure their mates?

Scientists have burnt many daylight hours and midnight oils on research to discover these human pheromones. The discoveries thus far have indicated that pheromones are specie-specific which makes research more challenging.

Pheromones – Airborne molecules that evoke a reaction in a member of the same species.

The term pheromone originated since 1959. Peter Karlson and Martin Luscher argued that some clouds of molecules produced by animals are more special. The hormones were similar in blood but away from the body it exert influence on the behavior and physiology of others.

Pheromones unfolded over time between members of the same species for a specific purpose. It was first discovered by the female silkworm moth who attracts the attention of the male from miles around her with her very distinct scent she secretes.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK200991/l;'

In wild pigs the male boars have androstenone and androstanol in their saliva, when a fertile female picks up this scent she presents her rear to the male indicating she is interested in mating.
https://books.google.co.za/books?isbn=1461506719

Many fragrance companies use these two pheromones (synthetic equivalents) in their fragrances, claiming it will increase men’s masculinity, self-confidence and that they will become irresistible to women. Use a fragrance that compliments who you are. Personally, my knees go weak if I catch a whiff of a fresh, clean smelling man.

Smell Cues:

Men and women emit odor from their apocrine glands in their underarm, nipples and genital areas. Scientists have found that babies, children and adults are able to pick up scents of other individuals on the basis of olfactory cues to differentiate them.

Another study has been done where Noam Sobel, a neurobiologist collected the tear samples of women who watched a sad movie. They presented this fluid to a few men, the lab results of these men came back showing the drop in these men’s testosterone levels, the men got the message that romance was off the table.

We can smell fear but do we have pheromones which actually influences our sexual response? Preti says that research on human pheromones have been hampered by the fact that our response to odors are “confound by other sensory inputs like sight, sound, past experiences, learning, context – and not to mention laws.”

Conclusion:

I know that I am drawn to a certain smell (pheromone I am sure), both my first love and my husband had similarities in their armpit odor which are very distinctive to me from other smells. These two odors imprinted on me and I can recall both very distinctively, smelling and feeling it still now after many years.

Have you ever been warned to never show a dog you fear them because they can smell it? The pheromone of fear is very strong in the human body.

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