Girls Love Guys Who Smell Like Garlic

If you men are looking to impress a girl on the first date, here's a proven idea. Eat four cloves of garlic before you pick her up. She will love the way you smell. I am not kidding.

A recent study claims the health-boosting benefits of garlic positively affect a man’s body odor, “producing an olfactory marker of good health for the opposite sex to home in on.” In other words, men who eat garlic are more attractive to women.

The study, published in the journal Appetite, found that men who eat garlic smell much more pleasant and attractive to the opposite sex, and it has nothing to do with their breath, but rather, with their body odor.

The research, conducted by scientists at the University of Stirling, UK, tested the hypothesis by including three phases of the study: (1) A whole bunch of varied amounts of garlic were given to 42 male participants, (2) Over the span of 12 hours, the researchers collected their body odor with pads, and (3) the pads were then subsequently sniffed by 82 women who were asked to rate their pleasantness, attractiveness and intensity.

The takeaway? I am happy to report the research confirmed when the men's dosage of garlic reached 12g, or four cloves, the women judged their odor as significantly more pleasant and attractive. The researchers concluded that the men in the study needed to consume a lot of garlic, about 4 bulbs a day, in order to enjoy the effect of a pleasant body odor.

(Jitka Fialováab, S. Craig Roberts and Jan Havlíček. “Consumption of garlic positively affects hedonic perception of axillary body odour.” Appetite.

Volume 97, February 01, 2016.)

Study co-author Professor Craig Roberts explains to Forbes, “From an evolutionary perspective, formation of preferences for diet-associated body odors was possibly shaped by means of sexual selection. Previous research indicates that many animal species use diet-associated cues to select mates in good physical condition.”

“Obviously, garlic negatively influences the individuals' breath on account of sulphur-containing gases, which does not seem to apply to the body odor,” the researchers added.

I know many are laughing, but wait just a minute. More people are eating the strong-smelling, pungent-tasting bulbs than ever before. Garlic consumption in the United States has tripled since the 1990’s. The average consumption of garlic in the U.S. is around three pounds a year, with about 75% of their consumption coming from the dehydrated variety.

And, this is not the first reference to garlic inflaming the passions. At times it was forbidden for Tibetan monks, widows, and adolescents to consume the stimulating herb.

Chinese doctors prescribed garlic for men with “intimacy problems.”

The Times of India reports the presence of a compound called allicin in garlic increases the blood flow to the sexual organs in both men and women. But, it doesn't work overnight. A minimal consumption of garlic on a daily basis for about a month can help people increase their libido. And I am sure that would also greatly increase that sweat appeal, too.  

Getting Your Garlic On

Herb? Spice? Vegetable? Garlic defies classification. For all intents and purposes, garlic is classified as a vegetable, but people will undoubtedly continue to debate this question.

Whatever you call it, there are about 600 varieties around the world. The two main types are hardneck (or topset) and softneck (artichoke garlic). Softneck (what is mostly found in grocery stores) produces more smaller cloves, while hardneck produces fewer larger cloves. Garlic flavors range from very mild (elephant garlic) to very strong (Romanian Red).

About 24,000 acres of garlic is planted in the U.S. annually, with total production of about 400 million pounds. California is the leading producer, with Oregon, Nevada, Washington and New York following in the distance.

Garlic, not unlike a human pregnancy carried to full term, requires nine months to grow. Harvest season in the U.S. runs from late June to early September.

However, the U.S. is the world’s largest importer of the vegetable, accounting for 339 million pounds of garlic in 2017. The garlic mostly comes from China, Argentina, and Mexico. Back in the early 90s, China accounted for only 2% of the garlic imported to the United States. By the year 2009, that number was up to about 50% and by 2012 it was about 66%.

The American market began a campaign to convince Americans that Chinese garlic was not only inferior in taste, but also toxic, as it was laced with hazardous pesticides and bleach applied by Chinese growers.

How are you to know which is which? American growers came up with a simple test. Garlic bulbs with roots scooped off the bottom are Chinese. The scooping, they say, is done to remove contaminated soil and lower shipping costs. (It’s also required by U.S. law.) American bulbs, on the other hand, come with roots attached.

Some Flavorful Garlic History

Garlic (Allium sativum) has been used for thousands of years for medicinal purposes. Sanskrit records show its medicinal use about 5,000 years ago, and it has been used for at least 3,000 years in Chinese medicine. The Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans used garlic for healing purposes.

Although there is some debate about it, the most recent theory based on molecular and biochemical research is that garlic (Allium sativum) was first developed from wild Allium longicuspis in Central Asia, about 5,000–6,000 years ago. Wild A. longicuspis is found in the Tien Shan (Celestial or Heavenly) mountains, on the border between China and Kyrgyzstan, and those mountains were home to the great horseback traders of the Bronze Age, the Steppe Societies, ca 3500–1200 BCE.

Garlic was likely traded out from central Asia into Mesopotamia where it was cultivated by the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. The earliest remains of garlic come from the Cave of the Treasure, near Ein Gedi, Israel, ca 4000 BCE (Middle Chalcolithic). By the Bronze Age, garlic was being consumed by people throughout the Mediterranean, including the Egyptians under the 3rd dynasty Old Kingdom pharaoh Cheops (~2589–2566 BCE).

The ancient Greek name for garlic was “scorodon.” According to Fulder and Blackwood, French physician Henri Leclerc derived this from “skaion rodon” which he translated as rose puante, or "stinking rose.”

Egyptian slaves were given a daily ration of garlic, as it was believed to ward off illness and to increase strength and endurance. As indicated in ancient Egyptian records, the pyramid builders were given beer, flatbread, raw garlic and onions as their meager food ration. It cost the Pharaoh today's equivalent of 2 million dollars to keep the Cheops pyramid builders supplied with garlic.

The bulb was so popular with those who toiled on the pyramids that garlic shortages caused work stoppages. A garlic crop failure, due to the Nile flooding, caused one of the only two recorded Egyptian slave revolts.

During the reign of King Tut, fifteen pounds of garlic would buy a healthy male slave. Indeed, when King Tut's tomb was excavated, there were bulbs of garlic found scattered throughout the rooms.

Roman soldiers ate garlic to inspire them and give them courage. Because the Roman generals believed that garlic gave their armies courage, they planted fields of garlic in the countries they conquered, believing that courage was transferred to the battlefield.

Conclusion

With a long, celebrated history, garlic is a formidable food. As far as its ability to make men more attractive to women, at least one study says “yes.” More males may now put garlic to the test, and I expect mixed results will follow. One last recommendation to those hearty souls who use the latest study to their advantage – the garlic “smell” can be avoided by eating some fresh raw parsley at the same time as consuming garlic. That may help with your breath. However, who knows what the parsley will do to your enticing sweat? At any rate – bon appetit!