Abstract
Previous work has shown that mate choice is in part affected by cues associated with quality and condition of potential mate. These cues could be based on visual characteristics or as shown recently on chemical cues.
There is growing evidence which suggest that body odour plays relatively significant role in mate choice. Moreover, body odour is to some extent affected by ingested diet.
Therefore, we focused on the effect of caloric restriction and garlic consumption on axilary odour. Our results suggest that restoration of food intake improve body odour in terms of pleasantness and attractiveness (probably as a consequence of recommended specific diet), but during caloric restriction it is rated lower.
The garlic consumption improves hedonic assessment of body odour. This effect could be ascribed to his well-known health effects.
Our findings thus confirm assumption that ingested diet affects body odour and these changes in odour attractiveness could serve as a cue to individual condition and quality.