Why are women attracted to men who eat garlic

A groundbreaking new study says that women found men’s sweat more attractive when they had eaten a whole lot of garlic, calling into question years of dating common sense.

All these years we’ve been fastidiously avoiding garlic in dating situations when it may in fact be the secret weapon.
A revolutionary study from scientists at the University of Stirling in Scotland and Prague’s Charles University has discovered that women go crazy for the odour of garlic on a man because it signifies health (garlic has numerous antibiotic properties).

A group of 42 men either ate raw garlic cloves, took garlic pills or consumed no garlic at all and wore a pad under their armpits to collect a sample of their sweat.

Then 82 (very brave) women sniffed the samples and were asked to judge them on the categories: pleasantness, attractiveness, masculinity and intensity. The results were pretty staggering.

Men’s sweat was found to be more attractive and less intense when they had eaten garlic, but to get the full aphrodisiac effect they had to have consumed a serious quantity of garlic – at least four cloves.

The results were published in the journal Appetite where the researchers asserted: “Garlic consumption may have positive effects on perceived body odour hedonicity (science speak for how pleasing it is), perhaps due to its health effects.”

The scientific explanation for the bizarre results, as ever, may lie in evolution. It is suggested that women have evolved to like the smell of garlicky sweat as it shows a man is healthy because of garlic’s antibiotic properties. We want a follow up to determine whether the same is true for men enjoying the smell of garlic on women…

The silver lining (unless you REALLY love eating tons of garlic) is that garlic capsules had the same effect as cloves, which may present a somewhat more viable pre-first date option.