Request for Question Clarification by
pinkfreud-ga
on
22 Feb 2003 16:32 PST
Coral,
This is a truly fascinating subject, and I would have loved to be able
to prepare an answer for you, but I have not been able to locate any
material that deals *only* with the erotic power of flavors and taste.
There are many references and studies on the interrelationship between
the sense of smell and sexual arousal, and there are sources for
information about possible aphrodisiacal properties of foods, but I've
found nothing extensive discussing taste and arousal.
Dr. Alan Hirsch, of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research
Foundation Ltd, has written a book called "Scentsational Sex" which
might be of interest to you:
Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation Ltd
http://www.smellandtaste.org/sexbook.htm
If you have questions specifically about sexuality and taste (as
distinct from smell,) perhaps Dr. Hirsch could help. According to the
Smell and Taste Treatment website, this is his email address:
dr.hirsch@core.com
========================
Here are a few snippets I found online that may be of interest:
"It's stringy and tastes like crunchy water, but celery is the swizzle
stick that can stir up your sex life. Every stalk of the stuff is
packed with androstenone and androstenol, two pheromones that can help
you attract women the way trailer parks attract tornadoes. (Don't
worry, these steroids are different from the steroid androstenedione.)
"When you chew a stalk of celery, you release androstenone and
androstenol odor molecules into your mouth. They then travel up the
back of your throat to your nose," says Alan Hirsch, M.D., author of
Scentsational Sex. "Once there, the pheromones boost your arousal,
turning you on and causing your body to send off scents and signals
that make you more desirable to women." Try it next time you're in a
bar. Grab the celery from your brother-in-law's Bloody Mary and munch
away. "The pheromones take effect immediately, so you should notice
the women around you paying more attention to you right away," says
Dr. Hirsch."
Men's Health
http://www.menshealth.com/food2/sexforlifediet.shtml
========================
"At a meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in New Orleans
early this month, neurologist Alan Hirsch of the Smell & Taste
Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago presented his findings.
'Perfumes have been used for centuries to elicit sexual arousal,' said
Hirsch, 'yet no scientific study has ever been conducted to prove
their effectiveness. We set out to explore the effects of odors on
penile blood flow with the hope that positive results would aid in the
treatment of impotence.'
Subjects wore masks scented with an array of odors. The combinations
found to be most effective in increasing penile blood flow were
lavender and pumpkin pie, doughnut and black licorice, and pumpkin pie
and doughnut. Older men, Hirsch found, were most turned on by
vanilla."
Homepage of Wendy Mukluk
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~mukluk/perfume.html
========================
"[Dr. Alan] Hirsch and his colleagues measured the effects certain
aromas had on penile and vaginal blood flow. And what got the men in
mood?
'Baked cinnamon buns had more effects than all the perfumes together,'
Hirsch says. The combination of the scent of pumpkin pie and lavender
also boosted penile blood flow the most. The runner-up was the scent
of doughnuts and black licorice combined, followed by the aroma of
pumpkin pie coupled with the smell of doughnuts.
The guys also responded strongly to the smells of cheese pizza and
buttered popcorn. Older men seemed to like vanilla, Hirsch says, while
men who had frequent sexual intercourse responded strongly to the
scent of strawberries.
And what did the ladies like? A licorice-like candy called Good&Plenty
combined with cucumber appeared to increase vaginal blood flow the
most. Runner-up to those smells were the scents of Good&Plenty
combined with banana nut bread.
What turned the women off were things typically associated with male
smells: men's colognes and the scent of barbecued meat. The smell of
cherries also had an adverse effect on vaginal blood flow. These
studies appeared in the January/February 1998 issue of Psychosomatic
Medicine, in the May 27, 1998, issue of Biological Psychiatry, and in
the June 3, 1998, issue of Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality."
========================
WebMD
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/12/1687_51342.htm
"As with fine wine, taste, of course, is in the mouth of the sampler:
Some men prefer a light, sweet flavor, while others enjoy a more
heady, complex bouquet. And what a woman ingests affects the 'taste”
of her body, according to Dr. Patti Britton, a clinical sexologist
based in Los Angeles. Saturated fats like meat and cheese, for
example, are metabolized and then partially secreted through sweat
glands, so a cheeseburger lover will have a particularly pungent zest,
says Dr. Alan Hirsch, author of Scentsational Sex. Vegetarians,
however, eat less saturated fat than meat eaters and may therefore
have a subtler flavor. More important is the amount of hot chili a
woman sprinkles on her chow. 'Spices have the most effect on a woman's
'taste,'” says Britton. If she loves garlic, or uses a lot of soy or
A.1. sauce, that will most likely contribute to a more potent flavor.
Similarly, alcohol and cigarettes, whose essence is also secreted
through sweat glands, may contribute to a tangier zip. All of the
above ingredients, by the way, can alter a man's marinade as well."
========================
Maxim Online
http://www.maximonline.com/world_o_sex/articles/article_1633.html
"Some interesting brain research done in the 1950s by the eminent
brain scientist Paul MacLean at the National Institutes of Mental
Health helped explain why men so often associate food with sex. In
mapping the brain of the male rhesus monkey, MacLean found that neural
centers that governed hunger, sexual arousal and aggression were right
next to each other in a region of the brain called the amygdala. When
he stimulated the area with an electrical probe, the monkey would
salivate. When he moved the probe a millimeter away, the monkey would
display an erection. Another millimeter he would gnash his teeth."
Rense.com
http://www.rense.com/general9/choc.htm
========================
I do hope that another Researcher will be able to succeed in finding
material for you. I'd love to learn more about the connection between
flavors and arousal. Just doing this preliminary research has made me
feel... um... hungry. ;-)
~pinkfreud
