We're Bringing Sexy Back... With Pheromone Perfumes?

The topic of humans having and releasing pheromones has been of recent interest lately. Do we actually have human pheromones? Can pheromones actually boost our sexual attraction? I’ve been seeing a lot of random advertisements for pheromone perfume or oils that claim to increase someone's attraction for you. I mean you can’t go wrong with a little grapefruit cologne before a date, right? I know what you’re probably thinking because I thought the same thing. Does it actually work? Well, the answer is, no one really knows. Smells are important for recognition and bonding, but smells are also individual perceptions and not everyone perceives one smell the same way as you might (van Hout, 2020). As we all know, insects have known pheromones that aid their reproductive success, signal for danger, etc. In contrast, mammals have a few pheromones that have been attributed to their behavior. One in particular that has been linked to reproductive behavior is androstenone, which male pigs secrete to induce mating readiness in female pigs. Androstenone-like compounds have been found under the armpits of humans, thus leading to speculations on human pheromones and the pheromone perfume market (van Hout, 2020). Once these androstenone-like compounds became commercialized, in support, over forty papers were released and claimed physiological and psychological effects of putative pheromones. But these papers were quickly refuted as putative pheromones have never been shown to be biologically relevant in humans. A study done by Hare et al, states that the best-known candidates for human sex pheromones are the steroids androstadienone (AND; associated with men), and estratetraenol (EST; associated with women), which were identified in 1991. This study found that their hypotheses were not supported and that the results were unlikely to be problems in experimental design, but that AND and EST are not sex pheromones (Hare et al., 2017). van Hout continues to explain in his paper that many scientists anticipate unidentified human pheromones, but we don’t have a functional ‘second nose’, or the vomeronasal organ that a lot of other animals use to detect pheromones (van Hout, 2020). This organ is found within the nose and consists of sensory neurons that detect liquid organic compounds, but in humans, it’s believed to be vestigial, so, in order for humans to unconsciously smell pheromones, we’d need to detect them with our main olfactory system (van Hout, 2020). It’s also pretty much impossible to have accurate controlled trials because the human judgment of smell is heavily dependent on context and years of learning. Really, we have no idea if human pheromones even exist, but the search continues and it doesn’t hurt to have a good smelling partner. So I guess on your next date, ask your partner what smells they like and you might get lucky!

References:

Hare, R. M., Schlatter, S., Rhodes, G., & Simmons, L. W. (2017). Putative sex-specific human pheromones do not affect gender perception, attractiveness ratings or unfaithfulness judgements of opposite Sex faces. Royal Society Open Science, 4(3), 160831. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160831 

van Hout, F. (2020). MYTH OR SCIENCE?. Myth or Science? The Power of Pheromones Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis VS Schizophrenia Bacteriophages: A Suitable Alternative for Antibiotics? A Clinical Study: Dyslipidemia and Hyperglycemia in Psoriatic Inpatients, 11..