THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION STORED IN OUR BODY SCENT AND HOW IT CAN HELP TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT LIFE PARTNER
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There is a wealth of psychological and biological information stored in our body scent, which we can use to choose a suitable life partner, but we do not always act on.
Our body odor can reveal details about our health, like the presence of diseases (cholera smells sweet and acute diabetes like rotten apples). It can also reveal information about our diet and one research group found that the more meat you consume the more pleasant your BO smells.
Men find women's body odor more pleasant and attractive during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, when women are most fertile, and least pleasant and attractive during menstruation. This might have been useful for our ancient ancestors to detect good candidates for reproduction. Men's testosterone levels might improve their scent, too.
While it can change depending on our diet and health, a lot of what makes our intrinsic smell (natural body scent) unique is determined by our genetics. Our body odor is specific enough, and our sense of smell accurate enough, that people can pair the sweaty T-shirts of identical twins from a group of strangers' T-shirts. Identical twin body odor is so similar that matchers in this experiment even mistook duplicate T-shirts from the same individual as two twin T-shirts. This is important because it shows that genes influence how we smell and, therefore, we might be able to detect genetic information about other people by smelling them.
Some studies have shown that it is possible to make assessments of someone's personality based on their choice of fragrances.
How is the information stored in our body scent useful to us?
Our body odor can reveal details about our health, like the presence of diseases (cholera smells sweet and acute diabetes like rotten apples). It can also reveal information about our diet and one research group found that the more meat you consume the more pleasant your BO smells.
Men find women's body odor more pleasant and attractive during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, when women are most fertile, and least pleasant and attractive during menstruation. This might have been useful for our ancient ancestors to detect good candidates for reproduction. Men's testosterone levels might improve their scent, too.
While it can change depending on our diet and health, a lot of what makes our intrinsic smell (natural body scent) unique is determined by our genetics. Our body odor is specific enough, and our sense of smell accurate enough, that people can pair the sweaty T-shirts of identical twins from a group of strangers' T-shirts. Identical twin body odor is so similar that matchers in this experiment even mistook duplicate T-shirts from the same individual as two twin T-shirts. This is important because it shows that genes influence how we smell and, therefore, we might be able to detect genetic information about other people by smelling them.
Some studies have shown that it is possible to make assessments of someone's personality based on their choice of fragrances.
How is the information stored in our body scent useful to us?
In one study, women were given T-shirts worn by random men and asked to rank them by how pleasant they were. Their order of preference followed the same pattern as something called Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) dissimilarity.
HLA is a group of proteins that helps our immune system to identify cells that belong to us and cells that are from something or someone else – and are therefore potential pathogens. The gene complex that encodes for HLA, called MHC, also encodes for some other proteins used in our immune response, and is useful as a shortcut for scientists to see what kind of protections our immune system can offer.
Your HLA profile is very likely to be different to everyone else you meet – though some people, like your close relatives, will be more similar to you than others. From a genetic point of view, it is an advantage to have a child with someone who has a dissimilar HLA profile. If you have a partner who is genetically dissimilar in body odor and immune profile, then your children will have a better chance of survival as they are likely to be more resistant to pathogens.
These women put the T-shirts worn by men with the most dissimilar HLA profile first and last the most similar. So they were able to identify the men, and preferred the men, with the best match in terms of immune system genetics. They didn't know that was what they were doing, of course – it was subconscious.
The specific mechanism that causes HLA-dissimilarity to result in a better-smelling BO is not entirely clear, but it is thought that MHC (gene complex that encodes the proteins of the immune system) dictates the composition of the dermal microbiome (bacteria on the skin), which in turn digest substances in our sweat to produce a certain odor profile (intrinsic body scent).
Do humans use genetic information hidden in body odor to choose their partners?
It would seem not. In a study of almost 3,700 married couples, the likelihood of people ending up with a HLA-dissimilar partner was no different to chance. We might have a preference for certain smells, and there might be a genetic reason for that, but we don't act upon smells when choosing who we marry.
It is worth noting that even though HLA does not influence choices in partners, it influences sexual wellbeing.
People with congenital anosmia (the loss of their sense of smell) have poorer relationship outcomes.
Couples who had high HLA-dissimilarity – which presumably happened by chance – had the highest levels of sexual satisfaction and the highest levels of desire to have children.
This link was more strongly seen in women. Women partnered with HLA-similar men reported more sexual dissatisfaction and lower desire to have children.
To evolutionary biologists the emphasis on female choice makes sense. In nature, females tend to choose males, as it is the mother who invests the most in raising children and therefore has the most to lose by mating with a genetically inferior male. The female must be discerning in her choice, so looks for clues as to a male's quality. This is why males are often colorful, perform dances, sing songs or offer gifts in nature – they have to prove their genetic quality.
Why don't we use the sense of smell in choosing partners?
The evidence to support the idea we can make good dating decisions based on smell is unclear. We might say we prefer something, but in practice it would appear we do not make choices based on that preference. Why not? Well, there may be a number of reasons for this, as explained below.
One reason might be that modern real-life scenarios are too complex to use scent information accurately. This is because for the most part our intrinsic body odor is masked by frequent bathing and wearing fragranced personal care products, as well as fine fragrances. Additionally, humans focus their choice of partners on other things, such as physical appearance, personality, intelligence, charisma, cultural background, social status, etc.
Our other senses can distort the information we take in from the sense of smell. For instance, based on body odor perception alone, we can make accurate assessments of other people's neuroticism, whereas we are not able to do the same based on visual perception of their face. However, when shown a photo of a person alongside a sample of their BO people get confused and become less accurate in their rating of neuroticism.
The evidence to support the idea we can make good dating decisions based on smell is unclear. We might say we prefer something, but in practice it would appear we do not make choices based on that preference. Why not? Well, there may be a number of reasons for this, as explained below.
One reason might be that modern real-life scenarios are too complex to use scent information accurately. This is because for the most part our intrinsic body odor is masked by frequent bathing and wearing fragranced personal care products, as well as fine fragrances. Additionally, humans focus their choice of partners on other things, such as physical appearance, personality, intelligence, charisma, cultural background, social status, etc.
Our other senses can distort the information we take in from the sense of smell. For instance, based on body odor perception alone, we can make accurate assessments of other people's neuroticism, whereas we are not able to do the same based on visual perception of their face. However, when shown a photo of a person alongside a sample of their BO people get confused and become less accurate in their rating of neuroticism.
Another factor to take into account is that women's ability to discern and prefer body odor of men with dissimilar HLA profile diminishes during pregnancy. So, single women who are courting may be better off not using birth control pills, as they simulate pregnancy, which could be another reason why many women often end up with "wrong" partners. Perhaps, single women could resort to "sniffing" out the genetically suitable partners by relying on other methods of contraception, such as condoms.
Concluding remarks
Studies have shown that most partnered women sadly do not end up with a life partner whose BO they preferred the most to other men. So, we know that we give off information about our reproductive quality in our BO, and we know that we can detect it, but we don’t act on it. Should we? Well, if your sole interest is finding a partner with good genes, then perhaps you should pay attention to their smell, but for most people that is not the most important thing or something that they even think about and so most people don't do it.
Studies have shown that most partnered women sadly do not end up with a life partner whose BO they preferred the most to other men. So, we know that we give off information about our reproductive quality in our BO, and we know that we can detect it, but we don’t act on it. Should we? Well, if your sole interest is finding a partner with good genes, then perhaps you should pay attention to their smell, but for most people that is not the most important thing or something that they even think about and so most people don't do it.
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