Perfume may backfire for ladies looking for love

When it comes to attracting a man, natural scent works best. Women looking for that special someone might want to think twice before spritzing Chanel No. 5. A new study suggests that a woman's natural scent may be all she needs.

Recent research shows that a man's testosterone levels, which are linked with sexual interest, are significantly higher when they smell the shirt of a woman who is ovulating. These findings could lead to the development of new fragrances that mimic this effect, and answer basic questions about human biology.

Over the last 10 years, however, psychologists have found that ovulating women may behave differently, with a tendency to be more flirtatious, have sexual fantasies more frequently, and prefer hyper-masculine men.

In surveys, men report being more attracted to ovulating women. The new study builds on this research by measuring the response of men to a specific chemical cue.

The researchers performed two separate but related experiments. In the first scenario, the scientists gave four women plain, white T-shirts. The women wore the shirts over three days when they went to sleep. The researchers then collected the shirts in plastic bags, divided them up according to whether the woman was ovulating, and froze them.

Men who smelled the shirts of ovulating women in the first experiment had, on average, testosterone levels that were 37 percent higher than the men who smelled the shirts of non-ovulating women.

For the second experiment, the testosterone levels of the men who smelled the T-shirts of ovulating women were, on average, 15 percent higher than men who sniffed the two other T-shirt samples.

Exactly how far the odor diffuses away from a woman remains to be seen. Scientists also haven't identified the specific chemical scents that stimulate increases in testosterone levels in men.