Aphrodisiacs do not exist: from Casanova oysters to Montezuma chocolate
No oysters, no chocolate, no honey. Despite what legend says, aphrodisiacs do not exist. However, almost all myths have a little bit of reality that someone clings to like a tick to build an entire lie.. And not always with bad intentions. We simply want to believe in magic, especially with the topics that interest us the most, such as in this case, the sexual topic.
CASANOVA AND THE OYSTERS
Legend has it that Casanova ate 50 oysters before going to work.. Pim-pam-pim-pam. Does this make any sense? The truth is that oysters have zinc and that zinc is necessary to produce testosterone and sperm.. Some clever person made the rule of three and thought: yes, oysters have a lot of zinc and zinc produces testosterone and sperm.. Therefore, if I eat a lot of oysters I will have a lot of testosterone and therefore a lot of sperm.
What is wrong with Casanova's theory?
Not to be a spoilsport but Casanova's theory is missing two things. The first thing is that there is no need to spend your salary on oysters because with the food you eat at home you can also get your zinc needs without any problem.. Zinc is in many foods that we eat daily such as meat, fish, whole grains or nuts.. Come on, the oyster is very cool and glamorous but the zinc is more distributed than the Christmas fat.
On the other hand, Casanova did not control the detail that too much zinc has adverse effects. Inflating yourself with oysters can be a shot in the foot.. or rather in the leg because excess zinc can block the absorption of copper. If you eat oysters with a lot of zinc like Casanova and don't let the copper be absorbed, the copper accumulates. And this excess can cause neurological problems including numbness and weakness in the arms and legs.. Come on, Casanova wanted his legs to tremble by eating oysters…. but for something else.
MOCTEZUMA AND COCOA
If Casanova ate 50 oysters before going to work, Moctezuma ate 50 cups of cocoa with water and spices.
Instead of pim pam, this one went glu glu.
Moctezuma had his true breakfast of champions in gold cups. And when Hernán Cortés arrived there and they offered him cocoa in such a container, he was amazed.. But of course, not for the cocoa, but for the gold. Hernán apparently conquered more women than towns and he already had aphrodisiacs in his veins.. In fact, Moctezuma's daughter did something to Hernán and something shady happened there.. So shady that Moctezuma's daughter had a child from Hernán and the mother never recognized her as her own daughter as she was not wanted.. But this is a melon that we leave for another day because I have come here to talk about chocolate.
Is chocolate really an aphrodisiac?
It is true that the chocolate that Moctezuma drank has phenylethylamine (FEA), which is a neurotransmitter that has a stimulating effect and releases dopamine.. They call it “the drug of love” because it is produced when we fall in love (curious, by the way, that they call the drug of love UGLY).
In reality, we eat chocolate and sugar in general, foods that calm our anxiety, for several reasons.. They generate a feeling of pleasure in us and anxiety also awakens some mechanisms in our body that also start when we are hungry.
The reality is that there is no conclusive study that links chocolate consumption with greater vigor. It is true that cocoa, by stimulating the release of dopamine, can predispose you to maintain more satisfactory relationships.. But, we insist, desire again depends on many factors.
HONEY… AND THE HONEYMOON
Legend has it that in the Middle Ages, newly married couples were given mead, the oldest alcoholic beverage in the world made famous by Game of Thrones.. Mead was a mixture of honey and water that was fermented with yeast until it became a kind of alcoholic brew.
They gave it to the newlyweds to drink during the first month of marriage – that's where the honeymoon comes from – with the idea that they would become more affectionate and bring babies into the world.. But the reality is that the stimulating properties of mead are more related to alcohol than to honey.. Regardless of the variety of honey.
IMPORTANT: DESIRE MATTERS
In the hypothetical case that filling ourselves with oysters and chocolate gets things going, let's not forget that desire is necessary and multifactorial.. Desire is influenced by physiological factors, among which it makes sense to take care of your diet, but it is also influenced by psychological factors, including the consumption of drugs.
And why does it work for me? Let's remember: aphrodisiacs do not exist but the placebo effect does.