Women can sense if men are attracted to them by the smell of his sweat.

The smell of a man's sweat differs according to what mood he is in and women can pick up on changes that indicate attraction, according to new research.

The study, led by Dr Denise Chen, assistant professor of psychology at Rice University, in Texas, America, involved introducing two types of male sweat to 19 women in their 20s - one type was labelled 'normal', the other 'sexual'.

The sweat was gathered from a selection of men who had polyester pads attached to their armpits.

The 'normal' sweat was gathered during a 20-minute session in which the men were asked to watch educational videos.

They were then asked to watch 20 minutes of an erotic video, during which the 'sexual' sweat was gathered.

The female participants were exposed to these different scents while researchers monitored their brain activity.

The women did not realise it but their brains not only recognised the scents but responded to them.

Dr Chen said the 'sexual' sweat lit up different regions of the participants' brains.

She added her results suggested the female brain is capable of recognising the smell of a man who is attracted to her.

Dr Chen and her colleagues now intend to expand their research by looking at how these scents actually affect a man and woman's behaviour towards each other.

(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a multimedia journalist at the China Daily Web site.)

(Agencies)