I've heard this point a lot but given the fact that until the industrial age, most people had open flames in their kitchen and bedrooms so if i had to guess I'd guess most people smelled of woodsmoke.
A friend of mine in the military said when he was deployed and everyone starting stinking. He could be eating with a load of stinking guys. But he could smell if a woman came into the room.
I guess we aren't too far removed from the animals after all.