that's funny cause I just read in yesterday's LA Times that licorice is a stimulant for females' sex drive. this seems like a ripe area of interesting receptor/signal transduction research.
wish I had the paper and a proper ref, but I don't. it's in a front page article about farming alternatives.
--- /<.l//. Kalib:>>the Non-Stick Sound System On Wed, 06 Oct 1999 17:18:54 Mike Linksvayer wrote:
>Someone wrote in June:
>> I'm tired of being dominated by my hormones. I waste vast amounts of
>> time and energy thinking about and having sex, and I'm constantly
>> being distracted by sexual thoughts. Sometimes I think it would be
>> better--now that I've sired all the children I plan to--to just get
>> out of the sex game altogether. (I'm 39, married, three children.)
>> Castration would be a little extreme (permanent) and I don't know
>> exactly what the effects would be. I'm sure there are drugs that can
>> help, but I don't know how effective they are, how safe they are for
>> long-term use, or even what they're called or how to get them.
>>
>> Is there any practical relief for this problem available today?
>
><http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991006/sc/health_licorice_2.html>
>says
>
> Three Italian doctors warn in a letter published in Thursday's
> New England Journal of Medicine that glycyrrhizic acid, the
> active ingredient in licorice, suppressed sex hormone levels in
> seven men in their 20s.
>
> Just 7 grams of licorice a day over four days was enough to
> reduce the amount of testosterone by an average of 44 percent.
> Hormone levels returned to normal after four days of abstinence,
> said the team led by Dr. Decio Armanini of the University of
> Padua.
>
> [...]
>
> ``The amounts of licorice given to these men are eaten by many
> people,'' they said. ``Thus, men with decreased libido or other
> sexual dysfunction ... should be questioned about licorice
> ingestion.''
>
>The complete letter with references is available at
><http://www.nejm.org/content/1999/0341/0015/1158.asp>.
>
>Many other benefits and very few contraindications are claimed for
>licorice. See, for example
><http://www.alternative-medicines.com/herbdesc2/1licoric.htm>. (I
>can't vouch for the credibility of this site -- anyone have a favorite
>guide to herbal medicines on the net?)
>
>--
>See From: and Organization: above. Call +1 415 553 6408 for assistance.
>
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