The Sense of Smell Institute (SOSI) has announced that the first Science of Fragrance Award has been awarded to Australian researchers John Prescott and Jenelle Wilkie of James Cook University. The Award is in recognition of their investigation into the effect of odors on pain tolerance that showed sweet smelling odors do indeed have an analgesic effect. The research was presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) held in April 2006.The Science of Fragrance Award was developed as part of an alliance between SOSI and AChemS to recognize and encourage scientific research that is relevant to the fragrance industry.
Of the winners, SOSI’s scientific affairs director Craig Warren said, “The work of Prescott and Wilkie is significant for the fragrance industry as a majority of commercial fragrances contain sweet-smelling aroma chemicals such as vanilla scents of vanillin and ethyl vanillin and musks that have a sweet powdery scent. Further research will be needed to see if the universal preference for these fragrances might be due in part to their stimulation of endorphins in the brain.”
