Pheromones are chemical substances produced by certain animals, including a wide array of mammals and insects, that trigger specific reactions in mammals and insects of the same species when the pheromones are released into the environment. For example, gardeners harness sex pheromones of Japanese beetles to attract other beetles into traps, thus sharply reducing the destruction these insects can cause to plant life.
You may have seen the ads. In recent years, a number of unscrupulous Internet merchants have claimed that they have found a way to use human pheromones — presumably from females — to restore robust erectile function to men suffering from erectile dysfunction. What’s more, they say, for a relatively reasonable sum, they will ship this “miraculous treatment” to you.
Do Human Sex Pheromones Exist?
Before you part with your hard-earned money to purchase a pheromone-based cure for ED, you would do well to acquaint yourself with a recent study that cast doubt on the notion that two gender-specific substances reputed to be human sex pheromones are what many have said they are.
The study, published in the March 2017 issue of “Royal Society Open Science,” was conducted by a quartet of scientists affiliated with the University of Western Australia’s Centre for Evolutionary Biology. Specifically, these researchers looked at opposite-sex responses to androstadienone (AND) and estratetraenol (EST), which reputedly signal male and female gender, respectively.
Researchers Test Their Hypotheses
Researchers hypothesized that exposure to these reputed sex pheromones would “alter gender perceptions of gender-neutral stimuli and alter perception of the attractiveness and probable unfaithfulness of potential mates.” The 46 study participants — 24 male and 22 female — did not respond as hypothesized, leading the researchers to conclude that if human sex pheromones do exist, it’s unlikely that either AND or EST is among them.
The conclusions reached in the University of Western Australian study echoed the findings from earlier research that failed to definitively identify substances as human sex pheromones. And absent any scholarly agreement on the very identity of sex pheromones, it’s difficult to see how an ED treatment based on pheromones could produce results.
AND and EST ‘Don’t Fit the Bill’
Evolutionary biologist Leigh Simmons, the lead author of the Australian study, believes that human pheromones probably exist but that none has yet been identified. Of the continuing investigation seeking to identify human sex pheromones, he says, “I’ve convinced myself that AND and EST are not worth pursuing.”
Not all scientists agree with the findings produced by the Australian study. For her part, behavioral psychologist Wen Zhou told ScienceMag.org she believes that AND and EST may very well be human sex pheromones. She questioned both the design and the actual staging of the experiments used in the study. In 2014 she published a study showing that the reputed pheromones did influence study participants’ perceptions of walking dot figures with “genderless gaits” as either male or female.
On the Bright Side
As the debate over human sex pheromones continues, men with ED caused by insufficient blood flow to the penis will find that Viagra and other PDE5 inhibitors remain the treatment of choice for their impotence. If the convenience of ordering these medications online appeals to you, you might want to look into what eDrugstore.com has to offer. A longtime online facilitator of these drugs as well as a limited selection of other lifestyle medications, eDrugstore can even set up a complimentary online consultation with a licensed U.S. physician for customers who don’t have a doctor’s prescription. To learn more about the services it offers, click here to visit eDrugstore’s Erectile Dysfunction page.
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