Forget Flowers - Women Turned On By Smell Of Candy, Cucumbers

CHICAGO (March 11, 1998 12:30 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Forget flowers and fancy chocolates. What really turns women on are the scents from candy-coated licorice, cucumbers and baby powder, according to a study released Wednesday.

Following up on a previous study he did on the odors that most arouse men -- pumpkin pie produced the strongest penile response -- Alan Hirsch of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago said he exposed women to odors and then measured their vaginal blood flow.

"In treating patients who suffered from loss of the sense of smell, we found that almost 25 percent had also developed sexual dysfunction," Hirsch said. He said his research, which was presented Wednesday at the American Psychosomatic Society meeting in Florida, was aimed at potential treatments for sexual problems.

For women, he found the candied licorice smell produced by "Good and Plenty" candy, the odor of cucumber, and the aura of baby powder increased blood flow by 13 percent above the average blood flow. Other arousing odors were produced by pumpkin pie and lavender.

Smells that inhibited blood flow in women were cherries, charcoal-barbequed meat, and -- perhaps disturbing to scent manufacturers -- men's colognes. The women were exposed to the odors via surgical masks.

None of the odors tested previously were found to inhibit the sexual desire of men, as measured by blood flow in the penis.

Hirsch offered several possible explanations for the phenomenon connecting sexual desire and odor.

He said various smells may recall images that reduce anxiety in people and increase their receptivity to sex. Odors also may act directly on the link between the olfactory sense and the septal nuclei portion of the brain, which he said is a center for sexual arousal.

For those interested in the topic, Hirsch has a book coming out in April entitled "Scentsational Sex." Some of his previous work has been on using odors to cut appetite for dieters, and research on smells that encourage gamblers to bet in casinos.