Edible perfume hit stores

A new sweet that also supposedly acts like a deodorant has proved popular in the US.

Nutrition and health manufacturer Beneo have teamed up with Bulgarian confectionery giant Alpi to develop 'Deo Perfume Candy'.

The Beneo website states: "Science and nature have come together to make a functional food that leaves your skin with a beautiful rose fragrance."

The company adds that the sweets' deodorising properties come from the rose oil ingredients such as geraniol which they claim, when ingested, evaporates through the skin giving off the fragrance.

Beneo claims that eating four sweets will give the average person effects for up to six hours.

Scientists, however, are sceptical about the product.

George Preti, a chemist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, told ABC News: "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, but no-one has actually demonstrated that. Certainly if an aromatic spice gets on your skin, it can persist for quite some time. But whether eating something can make it exude through your pores, like I said, it's just never been demonstrated."