Humans have been having sex for a long time, and for most of that time we’ve been searching for ways to have sex. It will make sex more enjoyable.
Aphrodisiacs are foods or other substances that purport to increase libido and improve sexual pleasure and performance. Named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, aphrodisiacs have been described, recommended, and taken for thousands of years. Suggested aphrodisiacs include grocery store staples such as strawberries, luxuries such as raw oysters, and traditional extracts such as yohimbine, which is extracted from the bark of a West African evergreen tree.
But do these compounds work?
The perfect aphrodisiac
The perfect aphrodisiac would increase both your desire for sex and how much pleasure you get from it. The problem, he says, is that these two functions are controlled by different brain circuits. Kent BerridgeProfessor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan.
For more than 50 years, scientists have thought that the neural origins of pleasure lie in the mesolimbic pathway, a pathway in the brain that carries the neurotransmitter dopamine, Berridge says. “We all thought that the dopamine system was pleasure, and that activating dopamine creates pleasure,” Berridge says.
This hypothesis makes a lot of sense: the dopamine system is activated by pleasurable stimuli in our environment. Showed Cues predicting pleasure also activated these dopamine pathways. the study This suggests that dopamine governs the desire for pleasure, rather than pleasure itself: Increasing dopamine in lab animals did not make them enjoy pleasurable stimuli more.
Instead, Berridge says, pleasure can be increased by activating the brain’s opioid and endocannabinoid systems, which use neurotransmitters that act like the brain’s “natural heroin” or “natural marijuana.”
The combination of dopamine, which drives us to seek out pleasurable behaviors, and the opioids and endocannabinoids that make those behaviors feel good, seems to be a multifunctional brain mechanism that responds to many external stimuli, Berridge says. “There seems to be a common currency that generates all these different pleasures,” he adds.
This shared mechanism may support the idea that food and drugs can enhance desire: “There’s no doubt that drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine stimulate desire in this way, and some people take drugs before sex to enhance their sexual experience,” Berridge says. study Cocaine can increase sexual desire, and the effect is stronger the more the drug is taken.
The evidence behind aphrodisiacs
But outside of illegal drugs, the evidence on aphrodisiacs is scant. review Of 50 studies that analyzed potential aphrodisiacs, some products were found to have risks that outweighed the benefits. Mud honey contains the nectar of plants in the genus. Rhododendronyohimbine, and Spanish fly all fall into this category. Yohimbine, for example, can cause mania, palpitations, and insomnia. The authors noted that other extracts, such as maca, ginseng, and ginkgo, have “emerging but limited” data supporting their use. Some of this evidence comes from placebo-controlled trials, but these often have small sample sizes, limiting their value. Another complicating factor is the difficulty of distinguishing between changes in libido and general mood changes.
The most direct evidence for aphrodisiacs is action Enter “performance enhancing” drugs like sildenafil (brand name Viagra). Famously discovered during the search for a treatment for angina, this drug increases blood flow to the penis and relieves erectile dysfunction. This physiological aphrodisiac has no effect on desire or enhances pleasure, yet it is extremely popular. In 2022, approximately 3.5 million prescriptions for this drug were issued. Written In the United States alone, ginkgo trees Blood flow Peripheral tissue penetration indicates a potential mechanism of action for this compound.
But Viagra only works for half the population. Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) is a distressing lack of sexual desire for six months or more that affects one in ten women in the United States. Flibanserin, originally used as an antidepressant, has been approved to treat HSDD in premenopausal women. Several clinical trials have shown that Suggested This compound increases libido when taken orally. It is thought to work by affecting neurotransmitters in the brain. Patients in these trials reported side effects such as drowsiness, nausea, and dizziness. Another option is bremelanotide, Activate It acts on the receptors of the hormone melanocortin in the brain. When administered intranasally or by injection before sexual activity, it is said to increase libido and sexual enjoyment. Like flibanserin, bremelanotide can also cause nausea.
Both of these drugs appear to be effective in men as well. Case Study It detailed a man who, at age 28, experienced his first orgasm after taking around 30 doses over the course of a month.
But the perfect aphrodisiac to boost libido and sexual performance remains elusive. More funding is needed to study putative aphrodisiacs in large-scale trials. Libido operates on a delicate balance in the brain, and when out of balance, unexpected side effects can occur. Burridge notes that many Parkinson’s patients, whose brains lack the cells needed to produce dopamine, could be prescribed drugs called dopamine agonists. These act like “fake dopamine,” he adds. the study Have display These drugs can cause hypersexuality in patients, a state in which people feel out of control and anxious about their desire for sexual activity. These agonists act on the multifunction dopamine system and can also cause other types of addiction. The millennia-old search for an aphrodisiac may not end anytime soon, but the consequences of finding one are becoming clearer.
This story is part of Popular Science’s “Ask Me Anything” series, in which we answer your wildest, most mind-bending questions, from the mundane to the bizarre. Is there something you’ve always wanted to know? inquiry.
