From the Guardian two days ago: Contraceptive pill ‘can lead women to choose wrong partner’:
Taking the contraceptive pill can lead a woman to choose the “wrong” partner, the findings of a study published today suggest.
The pill is thought to disrupt an instinctive mechanism that brings people with complementary genes and immune systems together.
Experts believe women are naturally attracted to men with immune system genes that differ their own because of their smell.
The new research provides evidence that the contraceptive pill can upset this process.
Researchers asked 100 women to sniff six male body odour samples from 97 volunteers and say which they preferred, with tests carried out both before and after the women had started taking the pill.
“The results showed that the preferences of women who began using the contraceptive pill shifted towards men with genetically similar odours,” the University of Liverpool’s Dr Craig Roberts, who led the study, said.
“Not only could MHC similarity in couples lead to fertility problems, it could also ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odour perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners.”
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