Abstract
Females of a number of primate species display their fertile period by behavioural and/or morphological changes. Traditionally, the fertile period in human females has been considered to be concealed.
One of the possible mechanisms for assessing menstrual cycle phase is by means of smell. Thus we investigated possible changes in odour across the menstrual cycle in a sample of 12 women with regular menstrual cycle, not using hormonal contraception.
To collect their body odour, they wore armpit pads for 24h under controlled conditions. Body odour was collected repeatedly during the menstrual, follicular and luteal cycle phase.
Fresh samples were assessed namely for attractiveness and intensity by 42 men. Axillary odour from women in the follicular phase was rated as the most attractive and least intense.
On the other hand, highest intensity and lowest attractiveness was found during the time of menstrual bleeding. The results suggest that body odour can be used by men as a cue to the fertile period in c