Antler velvet, damiana or wormwood, anyone? Telegraph writer Dominic Bliss and his wife Sally put alleged libido boosters to the test.
There comes a time in every couple’s life – usually a decade or so in – when the fires of passion start to dim; when the fizz goes out of your bang wallop.
My wife Sally and I used to be pretty wild in the bedroom, but then kids, careers and ailing parents took precedence. It crept up gradually so that one day we realised, if we weren’t careful, the spark in our love life risked being smothered.
It’s not a malfunction. Thankfully everything still works. It’s just a question of priority. So when I heard about aphrodisiac expert Lillian Zeltser, my pulse raced.
Author of Aphrodisiac Adventures and host of her own YouTube channel, Zeltser is something of a guru when it comes to plant-based stimulants. Years ago, after stumbling upon an old handwritten recipe for a love potion, she embarked on a mission to help others find natural cures for a whole host of ailments, but particularly for a flagging libido.
Having travelled the world in search of herbal stimulants, and backed up by her husband – a medical doctor called Victor Zeltser to whom she’s been married for almost half a century – she is better positioned than most to recommend natural aphrodisiacs. “The powerful effects of many aphrodisiacs experienced by my husband and me cannot be denied,” she says.
But, she stresses, it’s plants she focuses on – not illegal narcotics or exotic quack remedies such as tiger’s penis or rhino horn.
Zeltser, who was born in Russia and now lives in Australia, says aphrodisiacs function in three ways: physically, by triggering the production of hormones or circulating blood to the sexual organs; psychologically, by relaxing the muscles and nervous system, and putting us in the mood; or emotionally, by stimulating our five senses.
“There is not one particular aphrodisiac or stimulant that will work for everyone,” she stresses. “We’re all different. Cultural and psychological factors, state of mind, age, body weight, body structure, chemical composition – they all come into play.”
Crucially, Zeltser warns people to check with their doctor before taking aphrodisiacs and to consume them only in moderation.
Inspired by my chat with Zeltser, Sally and I decided to try some out…
Antler velvet
In springtime, Zeltser explains, the antlers of deer, moose and elk grow a soft, velvety skin – a material highly prized for its ability to “increase sexual drive and sperm count”.
I happen to live near Bushy Park, in southwest London, where over 300 deer roam freely. Worried I might incur the opprobrium of the park-keepers by scraping velvet from their antlers, I bought a supplement online called Full Spectrum Antler Velvet. Two tablets contain 500mg of antler velvet.
I’d love to say my wife and I went into full rutting mode, but, honestly, after a few days of the recommended dose, neither of us noticed the effects at all.
But that’s not Zeltse’s experience. She recommends a recipe called Japanese horny balls, which mixes deer velvet powder with soybean powder, gingko biloba nuts, honey and cocoa powder. On eating them, she says she and her husband were “both absolutely smitten by their immediate impact on our libido”.
Damiana
On a trip to Texas, Zeltser remembers drinking iced tea infused with a plant found across the Americas called damiana, or turnera diffusa. “We sank into a pleasant yet dynamic euphoria, as if we had ingested marijuana and coca,” she said of the experience. “We ended up walking on the beach, kissing and hugging till sunrise.”
Having bought a 50g bag of damiana online (worry not, it’s totally legal), Sally and I made our own infusion. It tasted very bitter, producing a mild light-headedness. But we certainly didn’t stay up all night.
Libido Her
Ashwagandha, maca root, muira puama, tribulus terrestris, dong quai, gingko biloba, catuaba bark and horny goat weed… the names alone in this supplement are enough to get you and your partner talking dirty.
The effects were less obvious, however. There was perhaps a marginal uptick in libido, although with so many plant extracts in the mix, it’s difficult to know which one was most responsible.
Zeltser herself is a fan of horny goat weed – a herb widely used in Chinese medicine – and reports feeling “distinctly arousing sexual pulsations” in her nether regions after consuming it with her husband. And the name? It arose from goat herders who watched their flock get aroused after eating it.
Yohimbe
For centuries, the bark of this tree (Latin name corynanthe johimbe) has been used as an aphrodisiac in West African traditional medicine. Be warned, though: there is no proven effectiveness and large amounts have adverse side effects such as hypertension, nausea and insomnia.
With high hopes, I bought a supplement online and we followed the recommended dosage of up to six capsules daily. Wondering why there was no effect, I noticed each capsule contains only 2.5mgs of yohimbe. We’d have to consume tons of the stuff before we’d be barking up the right tree, and we certainly weren’t willing to risk the side effects.
Zeltser herself tried the bark in Cameroon, where yohimbe grows in the wild. She explains how it raises levels of a neurotransmitter in the brain called norepinephrine (or noradrenalin), thereby causing “increased energy, stress endurance, physical performance and heightened sexuality”.
With her own husband, she added, “the full magic of yohimbe’s powers was revealed and, in the morning, we felt like newlyweds”.
Wormwood
A pale yellow-flowering plant native to North Africa and the temperate regions of Europe and Asia, wormwood (Latin name artemisia absinthium) is one of the main ingredients of the alcoholic drink absinthe. Widely available as a herbal supplement, it contains a chemical called thujone, which has been praised as an aphrodisiac for centuries. A 2023 university study in Iran found that wormwood vaginal gel can “improve sexual function and sexual satisfaction in women”.
In high doses, however, it has also been known to cause seizures.
By now, Sally and I had grown rather tired of supplements, so we opted for a large glass of absinthe each. It was difficult to tell if the resulting effects were due to the wormwood or the 70% alcohol content. Either way, a certain friskiness ensued.
Stinging nettles
Yes, really. Zeltser suggests stinging nettles can increase libido, particularly if you flagellate your lover with them. “It really does work,” she told me. “There is a mild poison that goes into your skin and stimulates blood circulation so that you become very alert to sexual needs. Yes, horny.”
Intrigued and ever adventurous, I headed for our local park, armed with scissors and a pair of thick gloves, before plucking several nettles from the undergrowth. Back home, Sally warned me, if I went anywhere near her with the offensive plants, I’d get a slap rather than my leg over.
Chocolate
The Mayans and the Aztecs saw cacao as a gift from the gods, enjoying the mood-enhancing properties of drinking chocolate. Indeed, some scientific studies show dark chocolate, in particular, improves one’s mood thanks to the flavanols in it. But the jury is out on whether this extends to sexual desire.
Time it right, though, and a better mood in both partners can often lead to amorousness. After consuming a couple of bars of Green & Black’s intense dark, my wife and I certainly thought so.
Final verdict
As Zeltser attests, everyone’s bodies react differently, and not all aphrodisiacs and supplements have the desired effect. While my wife and I noticed a marginal increase in passion from the damiana and the Libido Her, nothing we consumed had us tearing each other’s clothes off.
Disappointed, we opted for a well-known and long-trusted remedy instead. One evening, the kids thankfully dispatched to friends’ houses, we cooked ourselves a candlelit dinner and enjoyed a couple of bottles of fine wine.
In the end, this proved to be the most efficacious aphrodisiac of them all. Zeltser would be proud of us.