Excerpt from Playgirl, February 1997. If your sex life is in a rut, here’s a formula for romance that might get things simmering again. Dust off the cookbook, find a pumpkin pie recipe, mix the ingredients, bake and be sure to have some whipped cream handy. At the very least, you’ll have a tasty dessert—and you just may end up with a man more intent on getting you out of that apron and munching on you rather than a piece of pie.
For those of you not handy with a rolling pin, a dozen fresh-baked doughnuts should do the trick. Or try popping some popcorn—the more buttery the better. In a pinch, you might even try peeling an orange, or brewing a pungent herbal tea.
You may ask, What do pumpkin pie, doughnuts, popcorn and other savory foods have to do with good sex? Plenty, according to recent research con ducted by the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. In a study that could have far-reaching implications ranging from redefining what “smells sexy” to treating the troubling problem of male impotence, researchers have found that various aromas significantly increased penile blood flow —the barometer for male sexual arousal.
After finding that nearly 90% of men suffering from olfactory (smelling) dysfunction were also plagued with sexual performance problems, researchers decided the connection between smell and sex deserved a closer look. While trying to determine whether traditionally “romantic” scents like perfume increased blood flow to the penis, researchers stumbled onto the fact that the smell of cinnamon buns—which had been thrown into the study on a whim—elicited the highest increase of blood flowing to the penis!
I Am Curious… Cinnamon
Interested as to why sticky buns were such a turn-on for men, researchers launched a full-blown study that uncovered surprising evidence linking various food odors to the level of male sexual arousal. Researchers exposed volunteers from the Chicago area to 30 different odors and odor combinations and then recorded the level of penile blood flow, which is the first physical sign of sexual excitement in men. All of the odors tested increased blood flow to the penis, some of them substantially.
In a finding bound to give Thanksgiving a whole new meaning, the combined scent of pumpkin pie and lavender topped the list, increasing penile blood flow by a whopping 40%. Coming in a close second was the combined scent of doughnuts and black licorice, which prompted a 32% increase. A 20% increase was recorded for the smell of an orange while the scents of buttered popcorn and vanilla each increased the blood flow by nine percent.
Chanel Changer
Surprisingly, odors traditionally linked with romance and intimacy didn’t elicit the same response. Roses only increased the blood flow by four percent and chocolate only prompted a three percent increase. So, if you get a dozen doughnuts instead of chocolates and roses on Valentine’s Day, don’t think for a minute that he doesn’t love you.
Based on the results of the study, Dr. Alan Hirsch, the neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, has half-jokingly suggested a new line of perfumes known as “Eau de Dunkin’ Donuts.”
“It’s important to note that if the purpose of a woman wearing perfume is to induce male sexual arousal, then she is much better off with the scent of pumpkin pie or even doughnuts than she would be with a perfume she might traditionally buy,” says Hirsch.
However, Hirsch stresses that the findings could go well beyond simply enhancing a couple’s sex life. With further study, specific odors could potentially be used to treat men with erection problems. For those men whose impotence is the result of a physical problem, the increased blood flow might be enough to induce and sustain an erection. For men suffering from psychologically based impotence, the odors may serve to relieve anxiety while increasing blood flow, thus allowing for an erection to occur.
“If all future studies bear out that there is, in fact, an effect on penile blood flow, it would be a relatively easy and inexpensive way to treat impotence without needing a vacuum pump or implant,” says Hirsch.
On the other hand, Hirsch speculates that if an odor was found that reduces penile blood flow, it could be used to help decondition sex offenders, such as pedophiles. To date, researchers have not found an odor that does so, but Hirsch speculates that it’s more than likely they do exist.
Sauce for the Goose
The link between certain smells and sexual arousal is probably not limited to men. Researchers at the Smell & Taste Foundation are currently conducting a study on women to determine how certain smells affect vaginal and labial blood flow—an indicator of female arousal.
Although results of that study are not yet complete, previous research would indicate that women will also become aroused by certain smells. For starters, the olfactory ability of women is better than that of men. In addition, a woman’s olfactory ability peaks during ovulation, which could explain why women tend to have an increased number of sexual experiences around that time every month—increased detection of sexually stimulating odors prompts an increase in the number of sexual experiences.
In many ways, the most recent research is simply bearing out what human beings have instinctively known for centuries. The fact that smells and certain odors influence sexual arousal has long been a part of our sexual history and lore. In the volcanic remnants of ancient Pompeii, perfume jars have been discovered in chambers specifically designed for sexual relations. The ancient Sumerians used perfume to entice women and traditional Chinese rituals emphasized the relationship between smells and affection.
Sinus Envy?
Sigmund Freud theorized that smell has so much to do with sexual response that humans through the ages have had to repress sensations of smell in order to become civilized. Otherwise, he theorized, we all might be walking around in a permanently aroused state. This could well explain why humans don’t go around sniffing one another’s privates the way dogs are apt to do when they meet one another.
So, to most people, it’s no big surprise that the sense of smell is connected to our sex lives. The 1994 movie Scent of a Woman relied heavily on the idea that odors have much to do with human sexual attraction. All Al Pacino had to do was follow his prominent nose and he would sniff his way to alluring babes…
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