--- title: Do They Work? 5 Popular Aphrodisiacs description: Aphrodisiacs have been used by every culture from the ancient Persians to the Aztecs to boost sexual desire. But do these supposed love potions really... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7142551/do-they-work-5-popular-aphrodisiacs/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-02-14T19:50:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T11:14:37.510Z article:section: Health og:title: Do They Work? 5 Popular Aphrodisiacs og:description: Aphrodisiacs have been used by every culture from the ancient Persians to the Aztecs to boost sexual desire. But do these supposed love potions really... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7142551/do-they-work-5-popular-aphrodisiacs/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Do They Work? 5 Popular Aphrodisiacs twitter:description: Aphrodisiacs have been used by every culture from the ancient Persians to the Aztecs to boost sexual desire. But do these supposed love potions really... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Health](/section/health/) # Do They Work? 5 Popular Aphrodisiacs by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Feb 14, 2011 7:50 PM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Feb 14, 2011 7:50 PM UTC Aphrodisiacs have been used by every culture from the ancient Persians to the Aztecs to boost sexual desire. But do these supposed love potions really work?more Scientific evidence suggests it’s the placebo effect that accounts for most of the libido-lifting powers of your typical aphrodisiac, but some of these foods, drinks, herbs, spices and scents may actually contribute to physical arousal in a variety of ways. Read on for the lowdown on five popular sex enhancers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7142551/do-they-work-5-popular-aphrodisiacs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7142551/do-they-work-5-popular-aphrodisiacs/"},"headline":"Do They Work? 5 Popular Aphrodisiacs","datePublished":"2011-02-14T19:50:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T11:14:37.510Z","description":"Aphrodisiacs have been used by every culture from the ancient Persians to the Aztecs to boost sexual desire. But do these supposed love potions really...","url":"https://time.com/archive/7142551/do-they-work-5-popular-aphrodisiacs/","keywords":["chocolate"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7142551/do-they-work-5-popular-aphrodisiacs/","name":"Do They Work? 5 Popular Aphrodisiacs"}}]}] ```