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Better Sex Diet
By: Ian O'Shaughnessy on Fri May 19, 2006 @ 4:17am
For those of us who could use a little libido pick-me-up, the grocery store might be a good place to start.
Like many aspects of our health, our sex drive is affected by what we put into our bodies. A few drinks and a thick steak, followed by a rich chocolate dessert, may sound romantic, but it is actually a prologue to sleep--not sex.
Humans have sought ways to enhance or improve their sex lives for millennia--and have never been reluctant to spend money to make themselves better lovers. The ancient Romans were said to prefer such exotic aphrodisiacs as hippo snouts and hyena eyeballs. Traditional Chinese medicine espoused the use of such rare delicacies as rhino horn. Modern lovers are no less extravagant. In 2004, for example, according to Atlanta-based health care information company NDCHealth , Americans spent about $1.4 billion to treat male sexual function disorders alone.
Of that amount, Viagra rang up $997 million in sales for Pfizer or 71.2% of the total market. Among the other drugs trying to find their way into American's bedside tables and back pockets are Levitra, which is made by Bayer but marketed in the U.S. by GlaxoSmithKline and Schering-Plough and Cialis, which was jointly developed by Eli Lilly and ICOS There is a difference, of course, between helping sexual dysfunction and arousing our passions. The problem is that, these days, there are more solutions for the former than the latter.
Aphrodisiacs, for the most part, have been proved to be ineffective. Named for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sex and beauty, these include an array of herbs, foods and other "agents" that are said to awaken and heighten sexual desire. But the 5,000-year tradition of using them is based more on folklore than real science. "There is no data and no scientific evidence," says Leonore Tiefer, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. "Product pushers are very eager to capitalize on myths," she says.
Most libido-enhancing products offer short term benefit at best, according to Dr. John Mulhall, Director of the Sexual Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian and associate professor of urology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Mulhall, who also sits on the Nutraceuticals Committee of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, says: "Every year we review the literature on these compounds--these nutraceuticals like nitric oxide and ginseng--and there are none that have really been shown to be more than a placebo."
When it comes to sexual function, the placebo effect is probably 30% in men and around 50% in women, he says. That means there are a lot of people out there who believe a pill they are taking or a food they are eating is doing a lot of good for them sexually. In reality, their mind is doing all the work.
So, besides renting The Story of O and opening a bottle of red wine, what can people do to kick start their sex life?
Like many aspects of our health, our sex drive is affected by what we put into our bodies. A few drinks and a thick steak, followed by a rich chocolate dessert, may sound romantic, but it is actually a prologue to sleep--not sex.
Humans have sought ways to enhance or improve their sex lives for millennia--and have never been reluctant to spend money to make themselves better lovers. The ancient Romans were said to prefer such exotic aphrodisiacs as hippo snouts and hyena eyeballs. Traditional Chinese medicine espoused the use of such rare delicacies as rhino horn. Modern lovers are no less extravagant. In 2004, for example, according to Atlanta-based health care information company NDCHealth , Americans spent about $1.4 billion to treat male sexual function disorders alone.
Of that amount, Viagra rang up $997 million in sales for Pfizer or 71.2% of the total market. Among the other drugs trying to find their way into American's bedside tables and back pockets are Levitra, which is made by Bayer but marketed in the U.S. by GlaxoSmithKline and Schering-Plough and Cialis, which was jointly developed by Eli Lilly and ICOS There is a difference, of course, between helping sexual dysfunction and arousing our passions. The problem is that, these days, there are more solutions for the former than the latter.
Aphrodisiacs, for the most part, have been proved to be ineffective. Named for Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sex and beauty, these include an array of herbs, foods and other "agents" that are said to awaken and heighten sexual desire. But the 5,000-year tradition of using them is based more on folklore than real science. "There is no data and no scientific evidence," says Leonore Tiefer, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine. "Product pushers are very eager to capitalize on myths," she says.
Most libido-enhancing products offer short term benefit at best, according to Dr. John Mulhall, Director of the Sexual Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian and associate professor of urology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Mulhall, who also sits on the Nutraceuticals Committee of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America, says: "Every year we review the literature on these compounds--these nutraceuticals like nitric oxide and ginseng--and there are none that have really been shown to be more than a placebo."
When it comes to sexual function, the placebo effect is probably 30% in men and around 50% in women, he says. That means there are a lot of people out there who believe a pill they are taking or a food they are eating is doing a lot of good for them sexually. In reality, their mind is doing all the work.
So, besides renting The Story of O and opening a bottle of red wine, what can people do to kick start their sex life?