Posted on 10/11/2004 6:18:53 AM PDT by Area Freeper
Breastfeeding women and their babies may hold the secret to developing a drug that could increase female sex drive.
American researchers at the University of Chicago in Illinois have found that women's sex drive increased up to 24% after being exposed to breastfeeding compounds for two months.
"This is the first report in humans of a natural social chemosignal that increases sexual motivation," says Martha McClintock, lead researcher.
Invisible odors
Though not necessarily perceived as odors, chemosignals affect mood and menstrual cycles when absorbed through the nose.
To conduct the study, the researchers recruited 26 breastfeeding women and asked them to wear pads in their nursing bras and underarms. The pads collected infant saliva, perspiration and sweat, and the scientists then cut them into pieces and froze them.
The researchers then gave a group of childless women between the ages of 18 and 35 the pads on a regular basis. The women were told to swipe them under their noses in the morning and at night and any other time of the day when they had showered or exercised.
The researchers also had a control group to whom they gave pads with potassium phosphate, a substance that mimics the concentration of sweat and breast milk.
"Because preconceived ideas about pheromones could potentially influence their responses, study participants were blind to the hypotheses and the source of the compounds," says Natasha Spencer, one of the authors of the study. "The study was presented to the subjects as an examination of odor perception during the menstrual cycle."
Libido boost
Each day the women were also asked to complete a questionnaire about their sexual moods and activity.
The researchers found that after two months, females exposed to the breastfeeding pads who had regular partners experienced a 24% increase in sexual desire. Women without partners had a 17% increase in sexual fantasies.
Women with partners in the control group experienced no increase in sexual desire while women without partners who were exposed to the placebo actually reported a 28% decrease in fantasies.
Among women exposed to the breastfeeding substance, "The effect became striking during the last half of the menstrual cycle after ovulation when sexual motivation normally declines," says McClintock.
Encouraging signal
The researchers will have to conduct further studies to determine if the chemosignals the team discovered are pheromones. A pheromone is a chemical produced to transmit messages (including sexual interest) to other members of the same species.
Other research has suggested that the reason for this chemosignal stems from early societies, where women produced children only when food resources were plentiful. The signal would have been a way of encouraging other women to produce under these ideal conditions.
"Women with partners in the control group experienced no increase in sexual desire while women without partners who were exposed to the placebo actually reported a 28% decrease in fantasies."
So, the conclusion is, women shouldn't rub a pad with potassium phosphate on it under their noses?
LOL
I always laugh when you post that
Aha! This explains it! I am not going to share anything more specific but we women know!
I was just wondering yesterday when they were going to do something for the wives of the men on viagra. It would be difficult to be chased around the bedroom by a viagra taking man, if you are the wife, and you have zero sex drive. Maybe this will even things out. LOL
American researchers at the University OF THE FRIGGIN OBVIOUS...
Have yall ever noticed that when one girl gets pregnant, it seems to spread. I wonder about this study. On our block when I was young, when one of the women had a baby within a year half the block was pregnant. And I have seen this phenomena in my own family,,one relative has a baby and then everyone else does young and older.
I can't think of a time when a tagline has been more apropos...
The only way to adequately judge the validity of this scientific claim is to,.................oh forget it!
LoL. I missed that.
OK, I admit it.
The "Bowflex-using 50 year-old grandmother" commercials get me warm.
The funny thing is, the lactating women who produced the phermones probably had lower sex drive than the test group.
Let me get this right...they wiped their armpits with pads that they'd sopped up spilt milk and baby spit with.
Then they asked others to wipe their noses with them.
Rotlol!
:>)
And that got them all hot and bothered.
NOW I know what I was doing wrong all those years! (I'm getting rid of the roses, romantic music, and cheap wine.)
LOL! Yeah, she's pretty hot for 50.
LOL! I've nursed all 3 of my children and the last thing I would want to do with those disposable shields is SNIFF them. Breastmilk is sweet in taste, but it does sour like any other natural substance.
Why is Tom McClintock doing such research? ;-)
(her condition probably owes more to being married to a good plastic surgeon)
Ping.
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