New Study Claims Vanilla Is The Most Popular Smell In The World

Young woman in a shop, smelling a scented candle.

Photo: Getty Images

Do you have a favorite smell/scent that instantly brings you joy whenever you get a whiff of it? Turns out vanilla might be the most popular smell according to a new study!

Researchers at the University of Oxford and the Karolinska Institute just published a study that found people around the world actually prefer vanilla the most when it comes to scents/smells, even if they differed on other pleasant-smelling smells.

However, when it came to least-popular smells the results did vary, but the common thing people didn't like the smell of was isovaleric acid which is found in cheese, soy milk, apple juice, and foot sweat.

Sorry if that made you cringe, but researchers assumed people hated these smells because they had a bad reaction to the smells in the past and I hope nobody rated "foot sweat" as their most popular smell.

You can see more from the results HERE, but what is your go-to scent/smell and is it a candle already?


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