Reader Question: Are human pheromones real?

Trixie Says: August 18th, 2006 at 10:59 am So, I?ve got a scientific question that I?m hoping you can answer?.are human pheromones real? If so, what distance are they able to travel?

Good question. Well, one article I found (NEWSCIENTIST, June 2003) says human pheromone sensing ability ended due to a genetic mutation. This happened about 23 million years ago. So, one group says we haven't been able to pick up on pheromones for millions of years... Then again, this article (NATURE, 1998) says they have proof of human pheromones. The meeting highlights from the Women's Sexual Health Annual Meeting held March 2006 says yes, there are human pheromones:

"Dennerstein and colleagues^[14] (1994) had demonstrated that heightened sexual desire precedes ovulation by 6 days. McClintock and colleagues have also demonstrated that heightened sexual desire precedes ovulation by 6 days.^[15] McClintock and colleagues then showed that after 2 cycles of exposure to pads from breastfeeding women, there was a 22% increase in reported sexual desire and an equally large increase in reported sexual fantasies. ... These compounds, such as androstadienone, are found in commercially marketed pheromones. In the experiment described, this compound prevented women arriving for laboratory testing from becoming irritable and from experiencing a drop in positive mood.^[16] It also increased sympathetic tone and cortisol. Notably, however, the compound only had these effects when the women were tested by a man, and not by another woman. The women responded emotionally and physiologically to the man, and the androstadienone modulated their responses. They did not respond to the women, and in this social situation, the androstadienone had no effect..."

So yes, anderostadinone is a real human pheromone as far as I can tell. Read this study for some interesting details. The distance it works would be the distance any smells can travel. Depends on the wind, etc.
What does "works" mean? Will bottled pheromones help your sex life? This pheromone seems to make make women feel more comfortable and happy, but we haven't found anything yet that makes women "go wild" with lust. Looking at hormones, Androgen in women increases sexual motivation but "not on sexual activity per se." Trazodone (Desyrel) seems to increase female sex drive and sometimes produces spontaneous orgasm, but there are some dangerous heart effects. One study from 2004 was titled, "Spontaneous orgasm started with venlafaxine and continued with citalopram." Citalopram may have caused one woman to die.

I'd stay away from all of this artificial junk... but for $89.95/bottle, I'll sell my 100% natural manly armpit pheromones. ;-)