Ladies – if you want to impress on a first date, or get your partner to help with the housework, there could be an easy trick to use.
Experts have discovered that your body odour changes throughout the month to coincide with your menstrual cycle.
A new study has found that men are more attracted to the smell of women when they are ovulating – the time at which they are most fertile.
So influencing their behaviour could all be down to a matter of timing.
‘These results suggest that body odour may in some way contribute to communication between men and women,’ the researchers explained.
For their study, the team from the University of Tokyo recruited 21 women and monitored them for a month.
They were asked to wear absorbent pads underneath their arms at the four different stages of their menstrual cycle.
Using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, the researchers were able to work out three particular aroma compounds that increased when women were ovulating – which usually occurs on day 14 of a monthly cycle, when a woman is most likely to get pregnant.
The researchers found that men are more attracted to the smell of women when they are ovulating – the time at which they are most fertile (stock image)
These included (E)–geranylacetone, which has a fresh, floral and slightly sweet scent and tetradecanoic acid, which has a waxy, soapy–like smell.
The scientists then asked men to smell a ‘control’ odour, collected when a woman was not ovulating, and compare it to the same smell but with these aroma compounds manually added.
Analysis revealed that men rated the ‘fertile’ odours as more pleasant, and ranked the faces associated with the samples as more attractive and more feminine.
The scent also seemed to reduce stress, they found, and men found these odours more comforting.
‘We identified three body odour components that increased during women’s ovulatory periods,’ Professor Kazushige Touhara said.
‘When men sniffed a mix of those compounds and a model armpit odour, they reported those samples as less unpleasant, and accompanying images of women as more attractive and more feminine.
‘Furthermore, these compounds were found to relax the male subjects, compared to a control, and even suppressed the increase in the amount of amylase – a stress biomarker – in their saliva.’
Writing in the journal iScience, the team said it has previously been proposed that men find female body odours more attractive during the ovulatory phase.
The researchers said changes to odour compounds throughout the menstrual cycle could be linked to fluctuations in hormone concentrations
‘We identified three ovulatory phase increasing compounds that mitigate the basal unpleasant axillary odour, resulting in the ovulatory–phase body odour being perceived as the most pleasant by males,’ they said.
‘Additionally, these compounds alleviated hostility and stress…leading to relaxation in males and an enhanced positive impression of female facial images.’
The researchers said changes to odour compounds throughout the menstrual cycle could be linked to fluctuations in hormone concentrations.
Previous studies have also found that women’s voices during their ovulatory period sound more attractive to men, and that photos of female faces during this time are perceives as more desirable.
What are the different stages of the menstrual cycle?
The menstrual cycle has four main phases – menstruation, the follicular phase, ovulation and the luteal phase.
These phases involve changes in hormone levels and the uterine lining, preparing the body for potential pregnancy.
Menstruation: The time when a woman has a period and sheds the lining of her uterus. The average length of a period is 3 to 7 days.
Follicular phase: Starts on the first day of a period and lasts for 13 to 14 days. Changing hormone levels cause the uterus lining to thicken and follicles to grow on the surface of the ovaries. Usually only one follicle will mature into an egg.
Ovulation: When a mature egg is released from an ovary. This usually happens once a month, about 2 weeks before the next period. This is the time a woman is most fertile.
Luteal phase: After ovulation, the egg travels through the fallopian tubes to the uterus. The uterus lining continues to thicken in preparation for pregnancy.
