Puberty and olfactory preferences of males

The preferences of 302 males, aged 8-9, 14 and 16 years, for ten food related odors were determined using a hedonic scale. The aim was to establish if major changes in preferences occur during the period which encompasses puberty. Small but significant differences between the 8-9 year group and the others were obtained for meat and chicken odors; between the 14 year group and the others for peanut butter odor; and there was a change from dislike to like with age for coffee odor. The results were almost all confirmed in a retest. The general lack of differences between the responses of the three age groups indicated that no major change occurs in preferences for food odors between the ages of 8 and 16 years. Although these results indicate that olfactory preferences for food odors are not affected by puberty, they do not eliminate the possibility that preferences may be altered for odors related to sex and emotion [13].