Chemistry + Pheromones = Communication

Some people like to think fate determines who we fall in love with. It’s that perfect mix of destiny, compatibility, and attraction. But numerous scientific observations have determined that attraction isn't fate, it's "chemistry."

We believe that pheromones send signals that encourage males to work together, creating a sense-through-scents of trust. We also believe that females are attracted to males based upon signals communicated by male-produced scents, that at the most basic level create a feeling of security and trust. These feelings are often referred to as “chemistry.” Our experience with pheromones found in the human axilla indicates a functional role for these agents.

Our concept is based on observations of many hundreds of individuals using the pheromones and the work reported in the scientific literature. Upon sexual arousal the skin will secrete a steroid, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which is acted upon by skin flora and converted to additional steroids.

Dehydroepiandrosterone  is secreted by the adrenal glands and serves as a precursor to sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. Levels peak around age 25 and gradually decline with age. By the time a person is 70, DHEA levels are just 10% to 20% of what they were in the second decade of life.

These have been reported in the literature by Pretti. The initial effect of these compounds is to make the individual aware of his or her attractiveness and desirability. As a result of this autogenous stimulation the central nervous system relays to the motor system a series of signals that are related to display adaptations, designed to attract the opposite sex to a proximity allowing more intimate contact. This does not mean a sexual encounter is inevitable, rather it provides the social parameters necessary for more intimate contact. In humans with a high level of cerebral organization this system permits males and females to work closely in both large and small groups without excessive competitiveness and aggression.

While the pheromones obviously developed as sexual signals, in humans there is much more than meets the nose. For example, males are able to influence menstrual cycles in women. Using male axillary pheromones research workers were able to synchronize volunteer females to a common menstrual cycle, and as a result, to common fertile period. We see this same phenomenon in prey animals, as it provides a large number of young at one time, reducing the risk of newborns lost to predators. These findings suggest other roles for pheromones, or pheromone-like chemicals. In humans with a highly organized brain the direct role for chemical response has become more subtle as the social integrations of humans become more highly organized. We have been selecting mates and forming groups based on our body odor for ever since we were able to smell. Thanks to recent bearkthroughs in social and cognitive sciences, we can cleverly manipulate our body odor to maximize our appeal to others.

The mark of a true Darwinian winner is determined by how well you can select scents that match your MHC - a stretch of DNA that creates portions of the surface of immune cells. This surface helps the body recognize and differentiate self from non-self, stay healthy and, according to research from Wedekind, plays a role in mate selection.