These Are The Foods That Will Make You Smell Irresistible to Women

Each participant was then given a new cotton t-shirt, which they were instructed to put on, and, for a period of 48 hours, they were asked to exercise for one hour each day without bathing or using scented products. Then, they bagged their clothes, and sent the sweaty shirts to nine women, who were asked to sniff away.

The findings? The women rated the shirts of the men who primarily ate fruits and vegetables as smelling the best—with more floral, fruity, sweet qualities. On the other hand, they rated the sweaty shirts of men who ate more carbs as stronger and less pleasant.

“We’ve known for a while that odor is an important component of attractiveness, especially for women,” Ian Stephen of Macquarie University in Australia, one of the study’s authors, told NPR.

So how does what you eat make you smell better? The researchers aren't sure, but many potent and pleasant smelling wines are produced from the bacterial breakdown of beta-carotene, one of the pigments found in fruits. And as it turns out, they have the similar smells as the best-smelling shirts.

In fact, fruits and vegetables might help your dating game in another way, too: The more carotenoid-heavy produce you eat—think carrots, tomatoes, watermelon, and sweet potatoes—the healthier and more attractive your complexion appears, as we reported in the past.

Spicy Ground Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry:

Bottom line: Get your fruits and vegetables in. The more you eat, the less susceptible you are to a bunch of health problems. Eating about 10 servings a day—a baseball-sized fruit or half-cup of vegetables is one serving—can reduce your risk of heart disease by 24 percent, a stroke by 33 percent, cancer by 13 percent, and premature death by 31 percent.

So the next time you can't decide what to order on date night, try a meal that goes heavy on the vegetables—like a stir-fry—and see what happens.