Perfumes and colognes may do more than make you smell good - some say they also may improve your love life.
New research from the University of Chicago sheds light on a class of chemicals known as pheromones, which often have enjoyed a reputation for increasing the human sex drive. The human body produces pheromones in much the same way it produces other chemical compounds such as hormones or sweat.
But pheromones aren't just another kind of odor floating around in the air - they theoretically have biological effects related to human sexual attraction.
Chicago researchers claim that skin secretions regulate the human menstrual cycle. These findings demonstrate that pheromones influence human reproduction at a basic level, and many experts have brought forth additional evidence to support claims by the multimillion-dollar fragrance companies' that pheromones make humans more sexually attractive to one another.
"There wouldn't be a perfume industry if there wasn't something to it," University Biology Prof. Emilie Rissman said of human pheromones. "It's a pretty clever industry if it is all just placebo and they've convinced us somehow that those scents make us more attractive."
Pheromones are known to play an important role in the mating and socialization behaviors of insects, reptiles and mammals. But scientists still are disputing the effects of pheromones on humans.
Many experts believe the vomeronasal organ, a small structure located inside the human nose, may process pheromones in humans. But humans normally use visual and social cues instead of smells to hone in on potential mates, because they are much better at seeing than smelling.
Despite this fact, the nose remains vital to human sensory perception and may be key in the detection of pheromones. Even scientists who debunk pheromone theories admit that certain smells do cause psychological responses.
"Things like chimney smoke are comforting to us," said Rissman, who believes pheromones have biological effects on humans.
But scientists such as Michael Meredith, Florida State University biology professor, think fragrance companies mislead their customers.
"The logic used when making these claims doesn't fly," Meredith said. Other experts share in Meredith's skepticism.
"Nobody has ever shown any neural connections from the human vomeronasal organ to the brain," University Psychology Prof. Peter Brunjes said.
If pheromones work like other chemical compounds, such as hormones, then they must enter human cells via special proteins called receptors.
Researchers have discovered such cell receptors in rats. These receptors bind pheromones, stimulating the rats' brains and causing behavioral changes.
Until recently, scientists believed these receptors are absent in humans, but Rockefeller University researchers have found a human receptor similar to the one in rats.
Although these findings are promising, it is unlikely that this one receptor represents a functioning pheromone system, Rissman said.
But pheromones may affect human mood and brain function, she added.
Many scientists, however, counter that the biological effects of pheromones are minor.
"There clearly can't be a very big effect," Meredith said.
Scientists may never agree on the influence of pheromones on humans or even that pheromones exert any effects at all. But they all concede some smells do cause behavioral and mood changes.
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