Sexual Smell Differences: An Evolutionary Explanation
Posted by Science Oxford on October 2, 2009 | comments
So it seems that there is an evolutionary reason why women have a better sense of smell!
Visit this page »There’s a reason why women have stronger senses of smell than men. They can’t afford not to.
“Women have a larger interest in reproductive events because they have fewer opportunities for passing on their genes than men,” said George Preti, a Monell Chemical Senses Center organic chemist.
In a study published Monday in Flavour and Fragrance, Preti and colleagues found that women were able to detect body odors masked by other fragrances. Male noses quickly lost the scent.
“Men produce thousands of gametes every day, women just one every month,” Preti said. “Their investment in a reproductive event is higher than men’s, so they’re more biologically attuned to who they’re mating with.”
Preti and other pheromone researchers suspect that mammalian olfactory systems actually evolved to detect chemical traces of genetic incompatibility in the odors of potential mates.
Of the odor-masking compounds used in the study, said Preti, the most effective were eventually used in two brands of commercial deodorant.
Article Credit: Wired Science
What do you think?