Study: Men's

perspiration boosts sexual arousal in women

Saturday, February 10, 2007

(02-10) 14:05 PST Berkeley,

Calif. (AP) --

A chemical in male sweat can boost mood, brain activity and sexual arousal in heterosexual

women, according to a new study released just in time for Valentine's Day.

The study offers the first direct

evidence that humans secrete a scent that can affect the physiology of the opposite sex, said researchers at the

University of California, Berkeley. Their findings were published this week in The Journal of

Neuroscience.

"This is the first time anyone has demonstrated that a change in women's hormonal levels is

induced by sniffing an identified compound of male sweat," said study leader Claire Wyart, a postdoctoral fellow at

UC Berkeley. "There is much more going on than we think when we are smelling body odor."

The study

conducted last year involved 48 undergraduate women who took 20 sniffs from a bottle containing androstadienone, a

compound found in male perspiration and other bodily secretions.

The researchers measured the women's levels

of the stress hormone cortisol and compared them to the women's responses to a control odor. Cortisol levels in the

women rose within about 15 minutes of inhaling the androstadienone scent and remained elevated for more than an

hour, UC Berkeley researchers found.

They also discovered that blood pressure, heart rate and breathing

increased, mood improved and sexual arousal was boosted.

While the compound can make women feel more

positive and sexually aroused, it's still unclear how it affects their behavior, Wyart said.

"Humans are

more complex," she said. "You cannot expect them to have stereotypical responses like

rodents."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...n140520S56.DTL