Smell Like A Rose For Hours With New Perfume Candy

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Do you ever watch advertisements for new products and ask: ℠What will they think of next?´ Well that might be the question you´d ask yourself after reading about this next product–which promises to keep you ℠smelling sweet´ for hours.
BENEO, an Belgium-based manufacturer, has created a sweet candy that not only tastes great, but also keeps the imbiber smelling sweet for up to six hours, by releasing a lingering rose scent through the pore of the skin.
First featured at the International Exhibition of Inventions 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland, the perfume candy has been featured in several media outlets, including the New York Times and Allure magazine.
The candy, called Deo Perfume Candy, has been a huge success in America, being sold exclusively at Amazon.com at a pricey $10 per bag, selling out as soon as it can be produced. According to the company´s website: “Deo Perfume Candy has sold out on Amazon! We are currently replenishing our inventory. Check back soon.”
“Science and nature have come together to make a functional food that leaves your skin with a beautiful rose fragrance,” reads the website for Deo Perfume Candy.
These rose-flavored candies contain an alcohol called geraniol, which is found in rose oil. This alcohol cannot be broken down in the human body, so it releases through the pores of skin and “aromatizes” the user, according to BENEO.
However, some scientists are skeptical about the candy´s aromatizing effects.
“I think we can probably agree that if you eat food with a lot of aromatic spice, like garlic and curry, eventually it will work its way into your sweat and influence the way you smell,” said George Preti, a chemist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. “But no one has actually demonstrated that.”
Body odor depends on the chemical makeup of a person´s skin secretions and the type of bacteria feeding on them, Preti explained to Katie Moisse of ABC News.
“Skin glands produce food for the bugs,” he said, adding that the type of bacteria depends on the amount of oxygen and moisture in the area. “Body odor is different for different parts of your body. Your underarms smell different from your crotch, and your crotch smells different from your feet.”
Preti said changing the composition of skin secretions by eating such perfume candy might change the person´s body odor, leaving less-desirable effects later on. He added that the only way to be sure the candy doesn´t affect skin secretion is through clinically-controlled trials with the candy and a placebo without geraniol.
“Then after X number of days you could bring in blind assessors – odor judges, if you will – to smell people´s t-shirts and tell you which ones smell nicer,” said Preti.
According to Japanese scientists, studies have shown that when ingested, rose oil exudes aromatic compounds, such as the geraniol, through skin, leaving the skin smelling like a rose.
“One serving (four pieces) of Deo Perfume Candy contains about 12 mg of geraniol. The strength and duration of the rose fragrance depends upon body weight and is enhanced by Isomalt (the sweetener of the sugar-free version of Deo Perfume Candy),” reads a statement on the Deo Perfume Candy website.
“To enjoy the benefit of the rose fragrance, we recommend one serving size to a person weighing 145 pounds. In this case, the fragrant effect will be experienced for 6 hours, as geraniol slowly evaporates through the skin,” the statement continued.