I learned via ErosBlog that Italian researchers are suggesting a link between chocolate consumption and libido in women.
Is chocolate better than sex? While some may argue yes, it turns out you may not have to make the call. Chocolate may just be good — both to eat and for sex, according to a recent study.
Italian researchers found that women who ate chocolate on a daily basis had higher libidos than those who didn’t. They also found that chocolate-fed women had better sexual arousal and more sexual satisfaction. Their scientific conclusion: The craving of choice for many women has some real benefits for our sex lives.
link: http://www.suntimes.com/output/berman/cst-ftr-berman21.html”>Chicago Sun-Times
The story’s actually a little more complicated according to Cayuga Medical Center at Ithica’s Health Resource Library
Chocolate seems to make the mood more fulfilling, says Dr. Andrea Salonia, an Italian researcher, who will report on the link he found between satisfying sex and chocolate at the annual meeting of the European Society for Sexual Medicine in December in London.
Dr. Salonia’s group at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan had 153 women fill out standard female sexual function questionnaires, among other lifestyle and psychological indices. The women ranged between 26 and 44 years old, with a median age of 35. It turned out that the 120 women, average age 35, reported they ate chocolate frequently, compared with 33 women whose average age was 40.4.
Both overall sexual function and sexual desire were significantly greater among the chocolate-eaters than among those in the older group who were more likely to spurn chocolate, said Dr. Salonia.
Calling it “an intriguing correlation,” Dr. Salonia indicated nevertheless that dalliance between chocolate and sex was far from a sure thing. “It seems alluring to hypothesize that chocolate can have a physiological positive impact over women’s sexuality.” But he added that the age difference, an important factor in sexuality, was also significant between the groups.
In other words, while Dr. Salonia’s study does hint that chocolate consumption may influence libido, it’s equally possible that libido influences chocolate consumption. It may suggest only women tend to have both higher libidos and chocolate consumption around age 35 than around age 40.
The good news is I don’t think it would be very hard to construct a study to specifically test the hypothesis. You’d want to select a two sets of statistically matched volunteers — preferably women who don’t already eat chocolate — and ask half to eat a certain amount every day and ask the other half not to. If the chocolate eaters reported increased libidos compared to the control group you’d be on much firmer ground.
This ought to be a pretty easy study to construct and administer. If any enterprising grad students want to put one together I’d be happy to publish the results.
