vino and the libido — does wine make you want it?
It’s understood that alcohol can act as a social lubricant but does a silky syrah make you smooth between the sheets? Not necessarily one of life’s most important questions but nevertheless, quite fascinating.
Booze might help you let go of your inhibitions which in turn may lead to abject flirting with a hottie across the room but when it comes to sealing the deal could your beverage choice dictate sexual success?
Part of a good roll around is you’re cognitively aware of who you’re with and what gives pleasure to all parties involved. While being drunk may mean you have the courage to take initiative, it doesn’t guarantee you’ll perform. In fact, it’s probably the opposite.
We’re talking value not volume here. We want to know if a glass of wine or perhaps a beer or a sneaky little shot of mezcal can actually physiologically make you want it.
An aphrodisiac, according to the OED, is ‘a food or drink, or other thing, that stimulates sexual desire’.
Oysters, chocolate and strawberries are all right up there as foods with the rumoured pulling power to arouse. Interestingly, they all go very well with Champagne. Perhaps it’s just that. Half of a bottle of bubbles goes a long way when you’re working on your woo.
This is all still down to alcohol removing your inhibitions and it still hasn’t addressed if there’s science behind wine giving a wink and a nod to your nether regions.
Physiologically, getting horny requires good blood flow to the genitals to stimulate the arousal cue.
Image by Bonny Beattie
As the article by Jessica Brown for the BBC explains, “The amino acid L-arginine, found in foods such as pumpkins, walnuts and beef, is converted to nitric oxide in the body, which increases blood flow. So do foods high in omega 3 fatty acids, including salmon and avocado. Another helper is quercetin. Found in apples, berries, grapes, red wine, garlic and dark chocolate, quercetin has anti-inflammatory properties that can improve blood flow.”
Brown’s article also qualifies that the research indicates these findings occurred only in people with compromised blood flow and those of us for whom blood flow is fine, won’t really see any changes by ingesting these foods.
Tucked away in that previous list of things containing quercetin though, was red wine. While there is no medical evidence that any food stimulates sexual desire, there is the exception of a few small studies that appear to link alcohol — specifically red wine — to getting a little bit randy.
“Red wine in particular may be indirectly linked to sexual function because of its potential benefits to heart health, says Michael Krychman, obstetrician, gynaecologist and a clinical sexual counsellor at the Southern California Center for Sexual Health and Survivorship Medicine. But it’s important to note that the link between red wine and cardiovascular health remains inconclusive.’”
“Research has found that red wine effects sexual function, but we don’t know if it’s the diet, or a combination of diet, lifestyle and genetics,” Krychman says. “What we do know is that, for people who exercise, have a healthy diet and lower stress, all these elements work together and they have better sex lives.”
The Mediterranean diet is referred to as one of those diets that saw people experience gratifying sex lives. It contains red wine but it also offers a balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates.
Brown’s article also points out, “one study involving 600 women with type two diabetes found that the Mediterranean diet was linked to lower levels of sexual dysfunction, while another study concluded the diet may also be associated with an improvement of erectile dysfunction.” So, perhaps the red wine is merely a part of the diet and it is assumed any alcohol is consumed in moderation as a small and complementary part of that diet.
Quite frankly, the Mediterranean diet is just simply bloody yummy. Perhaps we're all just so bloody happy once we’ve eaten a caprese salad and scoffed some pasta or a seafood paella with a vino tinto on the side that the post-consumption dopamine high is real and it’s that which makes us ready to get a little leg over. Maybe the bang simply comes after the food bliss and it just so happens that wine was part of it all.
For many of us, getting horny requires a lot of variables that need to fall into place simultaneously. Physical, psychological and environmental stars need to align. A romantic offering of chocolates in a heart-shaped box and a bottle of Champers and some sexy undies may go a long way to creating a vibe and perhaps the aroma of a red rose or two sends a message that sets a certain tone. All these things trigger an associated expectation that affection will be forth coming. So is the heatwave of desire actually wholly fuelled by the mind and booze just plays the part of an associated memory?
Jean-Christophe Billeter, associate professor of social and sexual behaviour at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, says “Our individual experiences also could be strong determinants of which foods boost sexual desire in each of us. Humans are very suggestive, and the brain is wired to form a strong memory when we have sexual success. Depending on the situation, if something happened in the environment where a person had sex, this will become something to trigger the desire to have sex in the future.”
So, it seems likely that your glass of wine or your pint of lager or that shot of something strong doesn’t really make you want it at all. A healthy diet and a good strong heart that pumps the blood around clearly go a long way to assisting with good sexual function. Perhaps the only function that glass of alcoholic tipple has where romance is concerned is to relax us and remind us of some deeply pleasing memory of some prior prowess and maybe that’s the only nudge we need to get nude.
speaking of saucy…we’re super grateful to our pals at antipodes water company. they supply us with the good water for our chats. antipodes is an artesian water that contains no chemicals, and when you’re pouring an organic wine that is gold. the mineral content also keeps the palate fresh so you can taste the wine the way the winemaker and nature intended you to. thanks antipodes, you’re the bomb. antipodes.co.nz
