Androstadienone by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

A derivative of testosterone, androstadienone is found in male sweat as well as in saliva and semen. It smells somewhat musky. See also androstenedione.

Androstadienone and sexual arousal
Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley found women who sniffed a chemical found in male sweat experienced higher sexual arousal. This appears to be direct evidence that people secrete a scent that influences the hormones of the opposite sex. A whiff of androstadienone, a male chemical signal, affects a women's mood, sexual and physiological arousal. Researchers measured levels of the hormone cortisol in the saliva of 48 female undergraduates at Berkeley, average age of about 21, after the women took 20 sniffs from a jar of androstadienone. Cortisol levels in the women who smelled androstadienone shot up within roughly 15 minutes and stayed elevated for up to an hour. For comparison's sake, women also smelled baking yeast, which did not trigger the same effects.