An aphrodisiac mushroom?
Phallus indusiatus is a mushroom with a suggestive name and shape, which is so full of aphrodisiacs that certain women can almost orgasm by simply smelling it! So: true or false? We wouldn’t be against it!
A suggestively shaped mushroom
Solving problems with sexual desire with just a simple mushroom would indeed be quite the revolution! However. John Holiday and Noah Soule, two American scientists, published a study on the subject in the specialist review, the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, boasting the intense aphrodisiac properties of this mushroom, which grows in the Hawaiian mountains.
A small study with too few participants
The two scientists carried out an olfactory test on 16 women and 20 men. The results: they claimed that almost half of the women “experienced spontaneous orgasm upon smelling the mushroom”. But how could this be possible? The paper explained that the mushroom emits hormonal compounds associated with sexual pleasure through its pores, which gave 6 of the women surveyed an orgasm. It gave the others heart palpitations which seem to resemble those observed during orgasm.
The effects were observed only in women
The aphrodisiac effect of this mushroom was only observed in women. The men in the study were observed to be almost sickened by the particular odour it emitted. That said, with such a small sample, unfortunately it is difficult to draw conclusions. One such small study is not enough to support the claim that this mushroom could be the new natural sex toy! Numerous other scientists have criticised their hasty conclusions. Critics claimed that the women could equally have been aroused by the reputation and the shape of the mushroom, linked with the artificial environment created in a medical study. A shame!
