Can food influence female sexual functions? Views of a sample of married Egyptian women

Abstract

Background: Since antiquity, people were looking for specific foods in order to improve their sexual performance. Although food may have an obvious effect on sexuality in both men and women, its effect on female sexual function is usually underestimated. Objective: The current study aimed to evaluate the impact of food on various aspects of sexuality in women. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 300 married women aged 20–50+ years having a regular sexual relation and eating different types of foods. We used a self-report questionnaire designed by the investigators. The questionnaire consisted of 21 questions that covered different aspects of female sexuality and its relation to food. Results: Most of the participants (63%) were in the age group of 30–39 years. The commonest coital frequency was —two to three times per week, which was suitable for 45.7% of the studied women. On the other hand, spontaneous desire was reported by 43% of women to occur —two to three times per week. Among our sample, 50.3% were exposed to female genital mutilation/cutting. Regarding sexual satisfaction, 47.3% reported being moderately satisfied and 38.3% were very satisfied and almost one-third of women (32.3%) can reach orgasm in more than half the times of sexual encounters. Among participants, 85% consider that the positive effects of food were increasing libido, increasing orgasm (11%), and prolonging the time of lubrication (4%). On the other hand, oils were found to decrease libido (31.8%) and have a negative effect on orgasm (36.4), while white meat was the commonest food to decrease lubrication (50%). Seafood was the most common type of food that improved husband’s sexual activity (78%) followed by nuts (25.3%). Conclusion: Our women sample believes that some kinds of food can positively or negatively affect their sexuality as well as sexual performance of their husbands.