A scientific explanation of the phenomenon of liking a partner's body odor

You may enjoy smelling your partner's perfume, the smell of his freshly washed clothes, or the smell of his hair after shampooing. However, do you know? This scent that you like may come from your partner's body itself. So, what exactly makes people like their partner's body odor?

The scientific fact behind the scent of your partner's body odor

Source: Mama Mia

Naturally, body odor is part of sexual attraction. You may be attracted to someone who is handsome or smart.

However, the smell that emanates from a person's body also plays a big role in arousing feelings of attraction.

From a biological perspective, body odor can indicate how potential a person is to become a partner and produce offspring.

Good body odor is also a sign of a healthy body.

To understand the mechanism, a study was conducted to find out why people like their partners' body odor.

A total of 44 men were asked to wear new shirts for 2 consecutive nights.

After the men changed clothes, the women were asked to smell the T-shirts and decide which one they liked better.

It turns out that women prefer the smell of the T-shirts worn by a man with a different immune system build-up than himself.

The immune system contains more than 100 genetic codes known as major histocompatibility complex (MHC).

The differences that make the structure of the immune system vary are found in these genetic codes. This genetic code helps the immune system recognize pathogens (diseases).

Couples with different genetic codes are more likely to have children with stronger immune systems, because the genetic code is more varied.

That way, liking your partner's body odor indicates that there is a different genetic code in both your immune systems.

Biologically, this provides an advantage because the resulting offspring are more resistant to various types of disease.

Body hormones also affect a partner's body odor

Hundreds of genetic codes in MHC also play a role in hormone production.

Everyone has a different genetic code, so the characteristics of the hormones produced are different from one another. Thus, the body odor that each person has also varies.

Hormones that have a role in the uniqueness of a person's body odor are pheromones.

Pheromones are actually chemical signals that animals produce to influence the behavior of other animals of the same species, especially during reproduction.

Pheromones do not produce odors, but these hormones make a person's body odor unique from one another.

This is what then makes you like your partner's body odor and can't find it in other people.

Source: Cafe Mom

However, the function of pheromones in the human body is still a matter of debate.

This is because there is strong evidence for the presence of new pheromones in animals. Meanwhile in humans, the evidence for its existence is still weak.

Various studies were conducted to find out the presence of pheromones.

On research in journals Respirology, the pheromone function in women allegedly comes from a compound called 4,16-androstadien-3-one (AND). Whereas in men, this function is found in the hormone androstenone.

Liking a partner's body odor regardless of the presence or absence of pheromones remains a unique phenomenon.

From a biological aspect, the hobby of smelling a partner's body is also related to the condition of the immune system and health in general.

So, there's no need to feel weird if you find yourself enjoying your partner's soothing scent. This is a common thing that many people experience and can be explained scientifically.