Food Myths: Do Oysters Make You Horny?

(smooth jazzy music)

[Narrator] So here's the scene:

You're out at dinner and your date orders the oysters.

I'll take half a dozen

of your finest Sweetwaters, they say.

And then they wink at you.

Like, suggestively.

Because of course,

oysters are supposed to be an aphrodisiac.

But is it actually true?

Oysters make you horny:

True or false?

A few years ago some Italian scientists

made a discovery.

They cracked open some mollusks

and found this particular amino acid.

It's called D-aspartic acid.

And that was kind of a big deal

because they knew that in a different experiment,

researchers had injected D-aspartic acid

into some lab rats.

And the amino acid appeared to raise

both the testosterone levels in the male rats

and the progesterone levels in the female rats.

Those higher hormone levels don't necessarily guarantee

the rats were feeling especially sexual.

But the connection could be made.

The catch, of course,

is that they didn't find it in oysters.

They found it in mussels.

Nobody has managed to isolate a chemical in oysters

that could elevate hormone levels in humans.

So when your date winks over at you

across that plate of fancy oysters,

they're probably more excited

by the idea of an aphrodisiac

than by any special chemical in the bivalves themselves.

Sadly, this food myth is false.

But hey,

go ahead and play along.

Placebo effect is a powerful thing.

And there's no sense in wasting those expensive mollusks.

Or ruining a romantic night.