Over the centuries, desperate lovers have developed aphrodisiacs out of surprising ingredients, and scientists are now researching how they work.

Rhino Horn

It’s sad how our effort to promote the survival of our species through copious copulation has run other species to the brink of extinction. Rhino horn, prized by some as an alleged aphrodisiac, offers no such sexual power; and its (illegal) use in Chinese medicine for other ailments is questionable. The horns look a little like an erect penis, and in traditional medicine that’s sometimes enough to mean that grinding them up and eating them will make one’s own penis erect. At best, they contain nutrients, such as phosphorus, which gave our nutrient-poor ancestors a little more energy.

Spanish Fly

Not a fly and not strictly from Spain.In decades past, people get the aphrodisiac Spanish fly directly from the source, the beetle Lytta vesicatoria. It’s not an easy thing to swallow, either, because the beetle secretes a substance called cantharidin so prickly that it has been used to remove tattoos. Inside the body, cantharidin irritates the urinary tract and may cause erections as it leaves the body, which enhances its reputation but comes at a price—the poison can cause extensive bleeding. In fact, cantharidin hastened the death of Simon Bolivar, the famed Bolivian revolutionary. Nowadays, you don’t have to eat the beetles; Spanish fly, like everything else, is available on the internet. Though useless as an aphrodisiac, cantharidin has shown great promise in cancer treatments—so you wouldn’t be wrong to say that lovers found a cure for cancer.
Most Spanish Fly sold today is just pepper or something to make you feel hot.

Chocolate

Nope, but so what. Chocolate has phenylethylamine and serotonin, two chemicals that light up pleasure areas in the brain. Chocolate is similar to sex in that it makes you feel good. This doesn’t imply, and no studies have shown that chocolate increases sexual desire. Hershey’s Kisses might lead to kisses, but the passion was likely firmly in place beforehand.

Oysters

Many foods (bananas, asparagus, carrots, avocados) are considered aphrodisiacs because they resemble the penis or testicles. Oysters resemble a vagina. The Romans placed the oyster high on their list of prized aphrodisiacs. Casanova, the legend goes, would eat 50 raw oysters for breakfast. Yet interestingly, oysters (and pine nuts, another ancient aphrodisiac) are high in zinc, which is necessary for sperm production. Raw oysters are also high in D-aspartic acid and N-methyl-D-aspartate, which increased testosterone levels in one study on male rats, which could in theory increase libido, according to Karen Boyle of Johns Hopkins Hospital. “The data is questionable and mixed, but oysters do make a nice appetizer,” she said.

Yohimbe, Tribulus and Maca

There are several traditional herbs under study for their aphrodisiac properties, and three leading contenders are yohimbe, tribulus and maca. Any combination of these might be pulverized, capsulated and sold as “natural Viagra.” Most level-headed researchers, however, will warn you to stay away from this kind of stuff. Too much yohimbe, a bark from a West African evergreen tree, can kill you, which is not the kind of stiffness most guys are after. You never know what you’re getting when you buy so-called natural cures. Many drugs come from plants; aspirin was isolated from willow bark. So yohimbe and the like are being studied to see if there are medicinal properties that can be isolated and turned into a reliable treatment for sexual dysfunction.

Ginseng

Ginseng is so commonplace today, available in teas, juices, and even chewing gum, that many men may not realize that it has long served as a bedroom aid. Ginseng boosts the level of nitric oxide in the bloodstream, and that in turn helps blood flood into the penis to create that male lovemaking necessity, the erection. Viagra, by the way, works by precisely the same mechanism.

Toad Secretions

During the mid-90s, four men died in New York after using “Love Stone,” an aphrodisiac that’s usually applied directly to the genitals. In these cases, however, the men decided to smoke the “stone,” which wasn’t a stone at all but a lump of ointment containing toad secretions. The toad juices harbored a hallucinogen known as bufotenine that may stir the libido in some way. But the toad juices also led to poisoning and cardiac arrest—not exactly the way you’d hope to end an amorous evening.
Toad was in the news again last month when another New York man died after ingesting a hard, brown substance containing toad venom.

Nutmeg

The common spice nutmeg inspires lab rats to (a-hem) rattle their cages. Wrote researchers: “It significantly increased the Mounting Frequency, Intromission Frequency, Intromission Latency and caused significant reduction in the Mounting Latency and Post Ejaculatory Interval. It also significantly increased Mounting Frequency with penile anaesthetization as well as Erections, Quick Flips, Long Flips and the aggregate of penile reflexes with penile stimulation.” Scientists are unsure about how nutmeg works its magic, or whether the resulting rat-love is as good for the lady rat as it is for the male.

Deer Antler

Deer antler is an extremely popular aphrodisiac worldwide. Deer antlers are the only organs on any mammal that can regenerate itself, and the velvet that forms on the horns is collected on specialized velvet farms. New Zealand produces more antler velvet than any other nation.
In traditional Chinese medicine, the velvet is dried and sliced before being mixed with medicinal herbs; people make a soup from the preparation. In the West, cleverly named products like Velvita (not the processed cheese) contain velvet in powder or capsule form. Deer antler velvet seems to have bedroom benefits for both men and women. The antlers are rich in amino acids, hormones, and enzymes, and this cocktail enhances strength and endurance, in bed and elsewhere. Scientists hypothesize that the antlers may have many other benefits, such as reducing stress, helping bones heal, and treating ulcers.

Pumpkin Seeds

In China, Turkey, and Bulgaria, men eat pumpkin seeds to stay virile. The oil in the seeds helps keep the prostate healthy, and that’s good for the love life. Two to three ounces per day, eaten raw, are supposed do the trick.

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