How Aphrodisiacs Work

have a nice effect. It depends on what you're talking about. Okay, well I'll just tell you. Okay, Spanish fly. But it turns out I did a little research on this. Um I found out that Spanish flight is not even a fly. It's a type of beetle, true and the active ingredient it's actually crushed up, dried and crushed up beatles powdered correct powder. And the reason they powder the beatles is because they're trying to get to this um, this acid that the beatle emits when it's um scared, when it's

it's threatened. And this acid, actually, you know, has long been thought to create amorousness in people. But that's bunk. Correct. I can tell you the reason they they they thought they were aroused. They're actually confusing euro genital tract irritation. This stuff actually burns from the inside out. Yeah, and it can actually cause kidney damage and I think convulsions and death. No, Spanish fly, you should never take this

for any reason. No, so, of course, you know, as as you know I I'd like to do lots of research. It's like my thing is right, Um, I started researching aphrodisiacs in general, and here we are at this podcast intro there, thank you. I believe the word comes from the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. Is that right? Yeah, that's what I hear. And an aphrodisiac, by definition, is

an element that evokes or stimulates, uh, sexual desire. Yeah, we should probably make the distinction because I think a lot of people think aphrodisiacs um are are performance sexual performance enhancing compound or whatever, right, and not true at all, Like a viagra would definitely not be considered an aphrodisiac. No, no,

so uh, nor would Spanish fly right. Correct. Well, let's talk about sexual arousal chuck, Okay, all right, let's just keep it cool, Chuck, if I had a dime for every time he told me that I would keep it cooler. Let's talk about sexual arousal keeping cool, okay, gotcha? Um? So, medically speaking, sexual arousal um begins when we take in something through one of our senses, um, that that we find sexually stimulating, right, yes, And then all of a sudden,

the limbic lobe kicks in. Right, That's where it all starts. This is part of the brain's reward center, and it's activated, and uh, it says, hey, I am sexually stimulated. So I'm gonna send a neurological signal through the nervous system down to the blood vessels in the pelvic area, and it says open, sesame, and the blood vessels open and

all this blood comes rushing in. And even better, because this wouldn't do a whole lot, the blood vessels close behind this this influx of blood, so the door shuts, essentially keeping the blood well not trapped. But well, yeah, I say, trapped is fun? Okay, I guess that just has a negative implication, right. Well, whether whether it's trapped or not, what you got is an erect penis and an erection in women as well. Yeah. I was surprised to find this as well. The clearter is actually goes

undergoes a very similar process. And there you have it. So all of a sudden you are turned on and basically ready for sex. But that's not it. There's there's other physiological responses going on when you're when you're sexually aroused, right, that's what I'm told. Can you fill me in on those? I certainly can. Well, your heart rate increases, UM, and pleasure producing chemicals like nora, epinephron and dopamine are released into the brain and it's it's go time, that's right. Yeah,

So that that's sexual arousal and UM. For an aphrodisiac to work, it would have to produce sexual arousal, right, And it could do this in one of two ways, correct, through the mind, like basically recreating that or stimulating that right absolutely. For instance, something that might increase blood flow to your sex organs. It might simulate feelings of intercourse, so that has the effect of creating desire, right, okay, or it can also just go straight to the horse's mouth,

right so to speak. Go ahead, Well it can it can create increased circulation, increased circulatory flow in the genitals, and that's actually chemical physical reaction that takes place. Right. The problem is is UM as far as our beloved f d A UM Food and Drug Administration. Sure, yeah, thank you, thank you for that. I was trying to come up with a peanut butter salmon elogy but couldn't

maybe too soon. Actually, UM, they they they don't recognize any compound, any UM, any chemical at all as an aphrodisiac, right, I mean, they've done studies over the years, plenty of them, but they can't absolutely say with certainty that one thing is an aphrodisiac or not because the libido is a hard to define and be even harder to study. Well, I was also interested to find out, UM, we're not

entirely certain how testosterone and estrogen factor into this. UM. It turns out that, you know, we know that testosterone has an impact on sexual arousal because men who UM have trouble getting sexual or men who have low testosterone production have trouble getting sexually aroute. So we know it factors that just don't quite know where UM and testosterone, you know, usually associate estrogen with women. UM. But testosterone

has an effect on their sexual arousal as well. Women who participated in a two thousand study at the University of you trecked Um. They gave them a testosterone sublingually and they found that um genital arousal um increased dramatically really in women with low libido. Yeah. Interesting, So they

didn't they didn't report an increase in sexual arousal. But you know, by extension, you could say, you know, right, well, I do know that testosterone therapy is something that men undergo that have a low libido, whether it's a cream or I think they have injections, or if they like to get in bar fights, that's why they do that too. Okay, so the FDA doesn't recognize anything, but there's still plenty of people out there who think certain foods, certain extracts,

plants um are aphrodisiacs. And this is this is definitely new. Like some of these these ideas go really far back. How far back? Well, it turns out that the Persians were fairly randy folks um and and we're talking ancient Persia Um. I believe pre Karma Sutra, which came out in uh oh, I don't know I'm just gonna go ahead and invite some viewer mail and say the sixth century a d. Right, So the Persians were they had

one belief that honey it was an aphrodisiac. Yeah, and apparently it has no uh no active ingredient in it whatsoever that could produce an aphrodisiac effect. Um. But there is an interesting little tidbit in there, isn't there. I think you're about the honeymoon. Yes. Yes, they would drink honey for a month after they got married, and that was called the honeymoonth which later became honeymoon. Is that right?

And if you go by the lunar calendars the ancient Persians did, then a moon from full moon to full moon is a month. So yeah, honeymoon and even further back I think, um, ancient Rome. Yeah, well that's not further back, that's about the same time. Yeah, they were big into aphrodisiacs. Um. I think one of their favorites is oysters, right, Yeah, Oysters usually tops the list. When people are going to make a top ten list of aphrodisiacs,

people always put oysters at the top. And one of the reasons those a few reasons, Um, one of the reasons this is loaded with zinc and zinc. If you don't have enough zinc is a man, then your sperm count and your fertility are affected. And it also has a bunch of iron, and an iron deficiency could lead you to be too tired, which doesn't usually lend itself

to uh to love making as it were. And a final reason, and I think this might segue over to something else, is that a lot of aphrodisiacs are phallus's, that is, they resemble a sex organ. Well, an oyster is has been said that it resembles the female sex organs. And I know another one on the list was avocados or supposedly an aprodesias because they in fact, I think that's known as the testicle tree in ancient Rome because

they resemble the man's testicle aztecs aztecs. Yeah, okay, yeah, they grow in pairs in their wrinkly and that people considered avocados um aphrodisiacs, right, And that's a common theme, I know, you know, um it's something that just resembles a sex organ. Uh, you know, carrots, cucumbers, bananas, bananas, um figs. Figs are said to resemble the female genitalia. Interesting. Um so, yeah, all these things have long been considered

across cultures sometimes to be aphrodisiacs. Right, It's hard for me to think that our ancient brothers and sisters were very smart when you hear about things like this. No, they were fairly superstitious folcus. Yeah, I mean it just sounds silly at this point. You know, avocados look like testicle, so if I eat them, that will make me viril. Well even even more direct than that, like not they they would also eat things that didn't just remind them

of sex organs. They would actually eat sex organs of other animals. Yeah, that's the one I was a little blown away by. So, like, it makes you wonder, like how many countless um And usually it was an animal that was known for its prolific um uh copulation, maybe um orrility or strength. So yeah, it makes you wonder how many um countless tiger and rabbit and bull penises were eaten over the years, you know. Uh, and still

it goes on today. Um, there's actually again non FDA approved drugs outside of the US that still grind up these things. I don't think anybody's dining on them any longer. But yeah, I was one of your favorites, right yeah, um there, I guess we should say that there are some things out there that could conceivably be afrons acts. They could produce sexual arousal right right, they actually affect

affect you chemically, they had. Yeah, if it's enough to actually I think that's where the gray area is exactly like it's there. But could it really have any you know, noticeable effect? Um? And one of those is jen Sing And there was a study that they they they I don't remember who conducted it, but they tested men, they gave them Jensing and then they tested them, uh using the mean International Index of erectile function, and uh it was shown to increased scores. So enough said, Jensing works.

Have Yeah, it's all I saw mood booster two right, Yeah, I think it's an energy booster. Well stuff which is actually pretty tasty. Is it a lot of the afrodisiacs. They say it may not be a direct like chemical correlation to your you know, pulvic region, but it'll do things like give you energy and a sort of a

two B two. See, if it gives you energy, then you're more likely to be aroused and in the mood for intercourse, whereas to something SAPs your energy, you're going to be you know, like if you eat a a lasagna by yourself, it's probably not gonna inspire you to unless you're Henring the eighth or something. I guess right, Well, yeah, and you make a valid point. Um, it's just that science hates it when you jump from A to C exactly.

You know, even if there is a direct correlation or causation that they really like to get that be in place first, you know. Um, but yeah, so and Jensing is not the only one. There's there's other Like you said, oysters are full of zinc and iron and other stuff. Um. And chocolate actually, which is always associated with love and romance. Um that it actually has final ethel mean and uh serotonin. So these things are actually an abundance supply. And we

can't ingest these things. Our body produces these naturally, but um, we can ingest them and react to them conceivably. It makes you wonder how much chocolate you'd have to eat to really get off, like perhaps like several goblets full. Josh, I think you're talking about Mona Zuma, who was the Aztec ruler who reportedly it would drink like fifty goblets of chocolate a day to increase his sexual desire. I cannot believe he died from being murdered and beheaded right

then exploding. Definitely chocolate. Oh, Jake, Should we talk about smell? I think we should because I gotta tell you, if I put stock into any um afrodisiac, it would have to be it would have to have something to do with smell. Yeah, it's not always food, it's not always taste. I know they say that like music and exercise can be afrodisiacs. Sure, well, yeah, I can tell you, um that swimming just the release of endorphins. Actually is it

definitely increases um interest. Interesting is that Steri? It is very very well done there, josh uh. If we're talking smell, um Dr Hirsch, Dr Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Center in Chicago. Yeah, that's a

good center. Um. He did a study that looked at different smells, and as we were talking about the other day, you like to say he he spent a career wafting smells under men's noses to see what stimulated them and measuring their penises and right at the same time, and

he found some interesting things. Um, cheese pizza, for instance, increased blood flow to the penis by five percent, buttered popcorn by nine and then the one that really shocked me, lavender, and then pumpkin pie actually increased blood flow by which that's pretty big. You could overcome a lot of sluggishness with with that much blood infusion, right, But that kind of to me. And Thanksgiving was when you pumpkin pile lot times. That flies right in the face of eating

turkey and watching football and stuff in your belly. And actually, pumpkin pie didn't just have an effect on men, had a big effect on women. But the top or the biggest, the biggest one actually is a combination of sense that aroused women is a combination of the horrid and discussing black licorice flavored good and plenty candies mixed with cucumber smell. It drives the women, Patty. So look, story short, I keep those things in my glove compartment a cucumber garden,

and you're yard, Yes, actually it's growing in my back seat. Wow, that's I have nothing else to say. I don't think there's anything else. Take but I do, actually I do have more to say. Let's hit pheromones up real quick. Oh yeah, this is you're all over this. So pheromones basically have long been identified as like a way that maybe we attract one another. Remember that awesome study you

told me about. I can't remember what podcast it was, but they they had women um wearing shirts for like a week and then they had guys smell the shirts to determine their level of attraction by smell. Right, yeah, and it was right on the money. Yeah. Well, if if it was right on the money, then they really looked out because you need a m a a an extrasensory organ that not all of us humans have a

memoroe nasal organ. Never heard of it? Okay, Well, basically it's like it's like an addition to our to our old factory nerve or noses basically, and we can pick out packets of information from arimones. Uh I don't know if we can necessarily, that's never been proven, but in the animal kingdom it's very prevalent. Uh so. And they pheromones are produced and emitted through urine, right, So if your dog e spray somewhere and then another dog comes

along and just can't stop sniffing. What the other dogs doing is actually determining the health of the uh, the urinating dogs um immune system and also determining if it would be a good match to produce offspring, because apparently, ultimately what you want when you mate with another persons as far as animalistically speaking, um, you are looking for somebody with a compatible but opposite immune system so that the offspring you produce has the resistance to the most

disease as possible. Well, and the same in humans. That's what the original smell study from the other podcast, right, Um, but yeah, the problem is not all of us have that vemarone nasal organ um. But there was a study that that what we emit pheromones in our sweat, by the way, are urine, which is good for us, because yeah, it'd be we'd have a different society if if that were the case. Well, there was a study. It was

a kind of an informal study. Um, and uh, these guys sprayed um pheromones on one member of a set of twin girls and popped the two of them side by side at a bar on a Saturday night, right, and waited to see if there was a difference in which one was hit on more. The one that got the boost of pheromones was picked up three times more than our identical, yet untreated twin sister. So the girl that was laced with pheromones very cool. So pheromones aphrodisiacs.

I feel like I've gotten a lot off my chest, right. I know they a lot of people believe in ephrodesiacs, but the scientific community, the FDA, as you said, does not support it. And the scientific community thinks there's also likely that it just could be a placebo. If you if you think you eat an oyster and you're gonna feel a little more inspired, uh sexually, then you're gonna

eat the oyster and feel inspired. And hey, you know what if that if, even if you're just fooling yourself whatever, I say that and justifies the means in that case placebo's work. Yeah, well good so, Chuck, thanks for doing that with me. Um. I think it's listener mail time. Hold your horses, Josh, it's not quite time yet. We have to give a little shout out to our blog.

We have a new blog on the website. As you know, how self works Dot com and our blog is called stuff you Should Know appropriately and you and I each post once to once a day. We we try and scour the news world for interesting tidbits that aren't quite up to par for an entire show episode. And we want to get fans interacting and kind of chatting about these things. Yeah, you can. You can access that through

the home page at how stuff works dot com. Right, yeah, leave comments, And anybody who wants to see Chuck in his famous cool guy flat cap is a fine fine photograph of him on every post. Actually, and yours as well. Thank you, Chull. That's a good photo of you. Well, thanks a lot of appreciated. So the goofy one that was written so now okay now is a listener male time. Yes, let's get on with it, Josh, I think we're gonna pull the train into Limerick junction. Yeah, I liked. I

like this trend. We went from Haikus the limericks, I don't know what's next, I don't know and uh an epic poem maybe. No, we're gonna get the iliad from fim listening now, just a couple of limericks here. Ryan of Victoria, British Columbia, fine Canadian friend. Have you ever been there? No, that's one of my favorite cities on the planet. I've heard it's awesome. It is awesome. It's

very cool. Everybody's very friendly. It's like a tiny city with like mini skyscrapers and everything, and it's just awesome. It's prettish Columbia too, So sure nice, all right. Ryan has this to say, as I wore an uncomfortable sweater, I sat down and wrote you this letter. Josh and Chuck love Hi Kus, but Hiku's make me snooze because

we all know that limericks are better. Yes, that's a good one, Ryan, And the final limerick today is from Brendan Franklin of Tucson, Arizona, another cool town college town. The podcasting host Josh and Chuck and the cast that they host or don't suck. They tell me how stuff works and as one of the perks, I'm no longer an ignorant schmucke and Brendan, we agree, you're not an ignoran schmuck. You're you also may be the first person

on the plant ever you schmuck in Limerick. Oh no way huge and Limerick clan is it I'm not very familiar with him. I guess I should say I'm surprised that we haven't gotten any dirty limericks yet, though, although now I think we could probably expect true. I'm just happy my name rhymes with schmuck. Yeah, well we knew

that already. Yes, So, if you want to send Chuck and I a limerick not a high kup um, or if you just want to say hi, or if you'd like to just congratulate us on making it through how averrodcacs work without humiliating ourselves by cracking up um, you can send us an email to Stuff Podcast at how stuff works dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com. HM brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you