I Was Made for Lovin' You

Smell Dating in Beijing

After years of dismissing human body odour as a major influence in attraction, scientists now believe there is more to love than meets the eye. Inside the human nose lies a vomeronasal organ. Receptors contained within this organ are excited when presented with certain substances. Human sweat, urine, breath, saliva, breast milk, skin oils, and sexual secretions all contain scent-communicating chemical compounds. Yet, contrary to popular belief, no human pheromone exists. Rather than chemical studies, work on genetics gave proof of odour’s effect on human sexual attraction.

Each of us is attracted to people that possess a particular set of genes – the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). These genes function as the immune system's eyes. When a disease is recognized, the immune system's teeth—the killer T cells—are alerted, and they surround the intruders and cover them with destructive enzymes. Unlike many genes, which have one or two alternative versions, MHC genes have dozens of alternatives. The immune system creates scented proteins that are unique to every version of each MHC gene.

Any given man's odour could be pleasantly alluring to one woman, yet an offensive turnoff to another

In mate choice trails carried out on mice, when a female mouse is offered two suitors, she inevitably chooses to mate with the one whose MHC genes least overlap with her own.

But how does this relate to humans? In an eyebrow-raising experiment by Gilbert and co-workers, human volunteers discriminated between mice that differed genetically only in their MHC. It follows that we may well be able to detect the aromatic by-products of the immune system in human body odour as well!

Claus Wedekind (University of Bern, Switzerland) investigated whether MHC differences in men affected women's ratings of their smells. Results revealed that women rate a man's body odour pleasantness and sexiness depending upon how much of their MHC profile is shared. Overall, women prefer the scents of men whose MHC genes vary most from their own. Hence, any given man's odour could be pleasantly alluring to one woman, yet an offensive turnoff to another.

So much for outward appearances and control of that all-important “type”. In the end, do we really have a choice? Is Beijing currently leading the way with its new approach to dating? Smell dating events begin with a blindfolded hunt led by smell alone, and only then does the night progress into a more conventional date. So cut the conversation, close your eyes, take a quick sniff and let your immune system decide this Valentine’s Day.

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