The Irish Mail on Sunday

Scientists create magic spray that turns women on

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IT’S AN advertisin­g man’s dream – a magic spray that turns women on.

Scientists have discovered a €20 potion that really does have an aphrodisia­c effect, with women who have inhaled it finding their partners 15 per cent more attractive.

The spray contains syntocinon, a synthetic form of the hormone oxytocin, which is naturally released in the brains when people fall in love.

Oxytocin plays a key role during childbirth, stimulates milk production in mothers, and helps them bond with babies.

But until now its effect on how women perceive men has been little understood.

Believing oxytocin could help couples bond, researcher­s at the University of Bonn in Germany asked 40 female volunteers to take part in an experiment.

All the women were in their 20s and ‘passionate­ly in love’ with a man. Half the women were given the syntocinon nasal spray to inhale, while the other half a placebo spray. They were then presented with pictures of a range of men – including their partners.

The researcher­s then switched the test group around and gave the spray to the 20 who had inhaled the placebo and vice versa. The women rated their partners as 15 per cent more attractive after inhaling the spray than after inhaling the placebo.

But women who were on the contracept­ive pill found their male partners no more alluring after inhaling the spray.

Syntocinon nasal spray can be bought online but Neal Patel of the Royal Pharmaceut­ical Society warned: ‘Syntocinon shouldn’t be obtained without a prescripti­on. If used irresponsi­bly it could affect your heart rhythm, and cause nausea and headaches. As it can induce labour, if a woman takes it when she is unaware she is pregnant it could cause a miscarriag­e.’

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