Aphrodisiacs cause students to have 'increased sex drive'

Food fulfills many needs for human beings. It nourishes us and gives us the energy to live each day. It acts as a social tool, bringing people together to eat at barbecues and fancy dinners alike. And food turns people on.

These mood enhancers are known as aphrodisiacs and, depending on who you talk to, anything and everything could be one.      

Public and community health professor Robin Sawyer defines an aphrodisiac as something that supposedly increases your sex drive but does not necessarily enhance sexual performance.      

Some of the most common of these edible wonders include bananas, chilies, chocolate, ginger, ginseng tea, honey, licorice, oysters and strawberries. However, there is no concrete scientific evidence that shows certain substances increase sexual desire in humans.

"To think that, just because you eat a pound of oysters, you'll have an increased sex drive is crazy," Sawyer said.      

In the case of many supposed aphrodisiacs, it may be in the food's chemistry where the theory originates. For example, oysters contain high levels of zinc, which has been associated with improving sexual potency in men, according to an article on www.howstuffworks.com.     

Sawyer said chocolate in particular always comes up in discussions in his classes when aphrodisiacs are mentioned.      

"There's a grain of truth to a lot of different things," Sawyer said. "For example, there's a chemical in chocolate which may cause someone to think it's maybe that which does it, or it could just be because it tastes so good."      

As Sawyer suggested, the notion that aphrodisiacs act as some sort of sexual "wonder drug" is likely due to the placebo effect, defined on How Stuff Works as the idea that something has a certain effect on our bodies simply because we think it is going to.

Sawyer used the example of an advertisement for M&M candies that he shows to students. In the ad, which Sawyer describes as quite subliminal in nature, M&Ms are spilled on a table, and within the pile, there are green ones that spell out "sexy."       

"If you eat a pile of green M&Ms and have great sex and you want to think it's because of the candies, it's not hurting anybody, but it's not because of the green M&M's," Sawyer explained.      

Freshman mathematics and physics major Eddie Lister agreed, saying certain foods likely increase sexual excitement due to one's cognitive state or surrounding environment.      

"There's probably nothing in any of the food groups that would actually do that — it has to be based on one's current state of mind," Lister said.

Yet another factor to consider is how one would even be able to tell if something they ate or drank caused them to feel sexually aroused.      

"All men, and especially people in college, are so horny anyway, I don't think aphrodisiacs have any added effect," senior accounting and finance major Maseeh Rashan said. "Even if they did, I don't think we would be able to notice."      

The article supports the fact that the placebo effect may have the most influence on the supposed success of aphrodisiacs, saying the brain, where sexual stimuli is first processed, is the most important sex organ.        

"Eating certain foods with someone who you think is attractive in the first place is obviously going to cause you to have an increased sex drive," senior communications major Cate Little said.      

At this point, students may need to come up with another excuse for buying and consuming so much chocolate. Unless consumed under the right circumstances, it is not likely to provide one with any sexual benefits, suggested Sawyer.      

"It's disappointing, because you'd love to say, ‘Wow, take this and this will happen!' but that just isn't the way it works," Sawyer said.

ga@umdbk.com