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Aphrodisiacs

Aphrodisiacs take their name from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, and have been used throughout history in an attempt to increase libido. There is a large industry marketing aphrodisiacs in society even today. But is there any scientific evidence that indulging in certain foods increases the proclivity to indulge in sexual activity?

The Romans believed in organ therapy as a cure for their impotence . Thus, many men would consume the sexual organs of virile animals such as rabbits, or dried tiger's penises, which is still served as a soup in Taiwan and South Korea (costing about $350 for a bowl!) and hormonal secretions of animals.

Many other bizarre animal-based aphrodisiacs have been used over the course of time; snake blood, the melted fat of a camel hump (used to lubricate the penis before intercourse) and leeches. The last are kept in a bottle, which is placed in a warm and dark place, until the leeches become a single mass. This concoction is then massaged into the penis.

There are many reasons why certain foods have evolved as aphrodisiacs. In some countries they gained their reputation as aphrodisiacs through mis-translations and linguistic origins. For example, vanilla, considered a powerful aphrodisiac, is the diminutive of the Latin term vagina. Another reason is that certain substances, e.g. chillies and spicy foods, evoke the same physical response as sexual intercourse, i.e. sweating, burning and distraction .Other foods have their aphrodisiac property attributed by appearance and similarity to the genital organs. Substances such as eggs, sunflower seeds and bulbs that resemble seeds or semen were naturally also believed to have powerful sex-enhancing abilities. Hence, oysters that have a similar texture and resemble closely the female sexual organ, ginseng that loosely translated means 'man-like', avocado, cucumbers and carrots, the rhinoceros horn, which resembles an erect penis and is popular in Chinese and Korean culture, have all made historical claims for increasing potency.

These aphrodisiacs may be traditional, some of them been around for 4,000 years. But do they work? Conventional scientific wisdom has it that many aphrodisiacs gained their reputation simply by association. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared that there was no proof that over-the-counter love potions boosted the libido. Since then, it has refused to endorse hundreds of food and drug products that make aphrodisiac claims.

Of course, explaining the effect of these foods as merely psychological doesn't completely rid them of their powers. Food does have a physical effect on the brain as well as a psychological effect on the mind. Eating and having sex are both essential for the survival of the species. Eventually, the new generation of aphrodisiacs will probably find their way out into the mass market just as Viagra did in 1998.