Male sweat can boost arousal in women

A chemical in male sweat can boost mood, brain activity and sexual arousal in heterosexual women, according to a new study released just in time for
Valentine's Day.

The study offers the first direct evidence that humans secrete a scent that can affect the physiology of the opposite sex, said researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. Their findings were published this week in The Journal of Neuroscience.

"This is the first time anyone has demonstrated that a change in women's hormonal levels is induced by sniffing an identified compound of male sweat," said study leader Claire Wyart, a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. "There is much more going on than we think when we are smelling body odor."