Men who are looking for attention from the opposite sex may want to dump the cologne in favor of their own sweat.

Researchers at UC Berkeley experimented on a group of 21 women between the ages of 19 and 26 and found that heterosexual female subjects who sniffed a steroidal compound isolated from men’s sweat experienced elevated hormone levels and reported sexual arousal and improved mood.

The findings – published last month in The Journal of Neuroscience – could serve to enliven debate in the scientific community over whether humans produce and respond to pheromones as most mammals do.

But whether or not human pheromones exist, men may still want to lose the cologne.

For many women, it’s a turn-off.

Research conducted in the late '90s by Dr. Alan R. Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago measured genital blood flow in response to various smells.

Experiments performed on a group of 30 women age 18 to 40 found decreased blood flow in response to men’s cologne, charcoal smoke and cherries.

In contrast, blood flow increased when women smelled a combination of Good and Plenty candies and cucumbers, as well as the pairing of lavender and pumpkin pie.

When Hirsch conducted similar research on 31 male subjects between the ages of 18 and 64, there was a significant difference in the findings.

“Every item tested raised penile blood flow,” Dr. Hirsh said. Within a normal range of food and floral smells, men’s bodies responded positively to everything placed under their noses.

Men and women were alike, however, in that they would be potentially more aroused by the smells from the neighborhood bakery than the fragrance counter at the local department store.

Perfume raised penile blood flow a meager 3 percent compared to 40 percent in response to the pumpkin pie and lavender combination.

Dr. Mark W. Geisler, director of SF State’s Cognitive Psychophysiology Lab, said that the differences are not just a matter of personal preference.

“Males and females respond very differently to odors. Most women are far superior to men in their ability to perceive finite molecules of odor,” Geisler said.

SF State students Paul Ward and Sara Boles shared a pitcher of beer and their thoughts about the smell of the opposite sex at The Pub in the Cesar Chavez Student Center.

“A lot of colognes I definitely don’t like. The cheap stuff like Axe and Tag,” Boles, 23, a marine biology and limnology major, said with a slight shudder. “That stuff is really bad.”

Ward agrees that he prefers a more natural smell on a mate but doesn’t mind a little olfactory augmentation.

“Maybe the smell of a nice conditioner,” he said. “A fruity, fresh smell."

But when the question was what smells Boles enjoys, it’s back to the bakery.

“Crème brulee,” she said. “It’s the burnt sugar.”