Real 'love potion' to attract mate identified

Researchers found that natural body odour plays a more important role in human mate selection than previously thought, paving way for manufactured love potion scents that can help singles improve their chances of finding ideal mates.

They found that people like their own body odour, and gravitate to perfumes that match and enhance that unique smell for themselves and possible mates, 'Discovery News' reported.

This odour is recognised subconsciously, so it's not necessarily the more pungent sweat smells that emerge every so often due to bacteria, consumption of certain foods, and other contributing factors.

"You must be very selective to find a mixture that mimics your (scent) signal, which is determined by a few genes," lead researcher Manfred Milinski of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, said.

"People take a long time to find 'their perfume'," Milinski said.

For the study, Milinski and his team created perfumes with synthetic molecules associated with female student volunteers.

Volunteers were asked to shower using a provided soap, apply a different type of perfume to each of their armpits, and wear an untreated cotton T-shirt at night.

The participants preferred the scents with synthetic compounds that enhanced their own natural odour. They disliked the one treated with molecules associated with another person's scent.

Brain imaging found that "self" odours activated the right middle front of the brain, a region associated with emotional balance, self-insight and more.

It's somewhat comparable to lipstick, where women enhance the size, shape and colour of their own features.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.