Jul 19, 2017
We’re not going to lie, this episode started out with Ashley and
Jane taking the whole idea of sensuality to a new level, dipping
fruit into warm chocolate sauce with sea salt. That got them
thinking about all the ways food can enrich and enliven your sexual
life. They started with the ABC’s of erotic foods but got
sidetracked as the chocolate sauce started dripping. Before
they lost consciousness, they started with some of the latest
research on sex and aging.
NEW RESEARCH. Your sex life is only as old as you feel.
In a new
study in the Journal of Sex Research, a team of
researchers at the University of Waterloo looked at the attitudes
on sex and aging in a group of 1170 adults from 45-75 over a
10-year period. The group, from a wide diversity of sexual
orientations, reported that the closer people felt to their
chronological age, the lower the quality of their sex life.
Most people tend to frequency to quality. We like to think of
your sexual satisfaction as more than frequency. The
biopsychosocial factors that might influence someone’s sexual
pleasure can be far more important than how often they are having
sex. The research didn’t necessarily say there was a causal
effect between the age you feel and the quality of your sexual life
but their findings indicated that feeling older could have a
negative effect on the quality of the sex they were having.
FOOD AND SEX. Where to begin? Here’s just a taste of
some foods that are linked to sex. Starting with Avocados,
whose shape and texture lend themselves to sex, Dr. Barbara Klein,
a professor of food and nutrition at the University of Illinois,
found that avocado’s
high levels of vitamin E could also increase desire
because of its role in maintaining youthful vigor and energy
levels. Bananas are not only a great phallic shape, but they
can also trigger
testosterone production through bromelain and boost energy
levels through potassium and Vitamin B. Chocolate,
or Theobroma cacao, has long been known to have erotic as well as
healthful properties, containing phenylethylamines, which causes an
increase in dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to sexual desire
and pleasure. Chili peppers not only have great color they
also stimulate endorphins, speed up the heart, and cause
perspiration which Dr. Meryl Rosofsky, a professor of nutrition,
food studies and public health at NYU reminds us are the same
physical responses of arousal and pleasure. We can’t talk
about erotic food without mentioning oysters, those bivalves so
reminiscent of love. Talk about a shape and texture. Oysters
are high in zinc and a team of researchers in
Naples found that they also contain rare amino acids that release
dopamine. And we can’t leave this podcast without mentioning
coffee. A recent study in
the Journal of Pharmacology and Biochemical
Behavior reported that moderate doses of caffeine
affected sexual behavior in female rats (we’ve seen this in coffee
shops around our town, not the rats, just the people). There
are so many other foods that stimulate sexual desire and
pleasure. Let us know what you’ve learned about food and
sex.
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address. And thanks for listening!