Effects of Ginger on Disgust, Sexual Arousal, and Sexual Engagement: A Placebo-Controlled Experiment

Abstract

Sexual problems are common complaints across countries and cultures, and behavioral immune system theory suggests disgust plays an essential role in sexual functioning. The current study investigated 1) if disgust induced by sexual body fluids would reduce sexual arousal, reduce the likelihood of sexual engagement, and enhance disgust toward subsequent erotic stimuli, and 2) if the administration of ginger would affect these reactions. We administered either ginger or placebo pills to a sample of 247 participants (M age = 21.59, SD = 2.52; 122 women) and asked them to complete either behavioral approach tasks with sexual body fluids or with neutral fluids. Next, participants viewed and responded to questions concerning erotic stimuli (nude and seminude pictures of opposite-sex models). As expected, the sexual body fluids tasks induced disgust. The elevated disgust induced by sexual body fluids tasks resulted in lower sexual arousal in women, whereas ginger consumption counteracted this inhibiting effect of disgust on sexual arousal. Disgust elicited by sexual body fluids also increased disgust toward the subsequent erotic stimuli. Ginger increased sexual arousal toward the erotic stimuli in both men and women who had completed the neutral fluids tasks. Findings provide further evidence of the role of disgust in sexual problems, and, importantly, that ginger may improve the sexual function of individuals via its sexual arousal-enhancing effect.

Is Consumption of Ginger in Daily Life Associated with Sexual Response?

“…However, our findings revealed that Z consumption showed no significant relationship with feelings of disgust during sexual behaviors. This finding is partly in line with the study conducted by Wen et al in which it was found that temporary Z consumption (1.5 g) could not suppress feelings of disgust induced by sexual body fluids but did alleviate the suppressing effects of disgust on sexual arousal in women [26].…”

“…Previous studies have shown that long-term use of Z can enhance psychological sexual arousal and desire in women as well as physical erectile function in men [22,23]. Moreover, temporary consumption of 1.5 g of Z has been found to increase feelings of sexual arousal in response to erotic stimuli [26]. Consistent with these findings, the present study suggests that Z consumption is associated with higher levels of sexual desire and arousal during sexual behavior, and then these factors mediate the relationship between Z consumption and sexual behaviors.…”

“…Wen and colleagues [26] conducted a laboratory-based study in which participants were asked to smell and touch sexual body fluids and then viewed erotic stimuli in sequence to explore the suppressing effect of disgust on sexual arousal and sexual engagement. Their study found that consumption of 1.5 g of Z one hour before the tasks was associated with increased feelings of sexual arousal in both men and women in response to erotic stimuli.…”

“…Despite numerous studies having indicated that Z consumption can effectively alleviate nausea and vomiting symptoms [40,41], the research focusing on the direct effect of ginger on subjective feelings of disgust remains limited. Only two experiments have been conducted by Wen [26] and Tracy [27] previously. Thus, further experimental work is needed to explore if and how the consumption of Z has a direct effect on feelings of disgust and sexual behavior.…”

Bidirectional relationship between sexual arousal and (sex-related) disgust

“…Sexual body fluid and neutral fluid tasks . Eight 30-second videos depicting research assistants completing sex-related behavioral approach tasks were used to induce feelings of disgust related to sexual body fluids (also see Wen et al, 2023) [ 42 ]. Four kinds of sexual body fluids including sweat (sweat from the head and neck), saliva, body odor (sweat from an armpit), and genital secretions (semen for female participants and vaginal secretions for male participants) were used.…”