Deer Antlers as Aphrodisiac

Yes, its real deer antlers and they’re from live deer. You might think that they were hunted down to extinction for this purpose, but that’s a NO. (It might be true for their pelt but not for their antlers.) It might be true before, perhaps, but today, according to the sources I’ve read, they take it from the deer without killing them since it’s only the tip of their antlers that they’re after.

They call this tip as “deer antler velvet”, or just “deer velvet”. Deer velvet is named after the soft velvet-like covering of deer antlers while they are growing and still in a cartilaginous state, before they harden into bone. “Deer antlers”, by the way, are organs of bone which regenerate each year from the heads of male deer. They grow with remarkable swiftness and every year, after the roar and mating season, the antlers are cast to begin the cycle again in the spring. After removal, antlers are frozen and transported under sanitary conditions. The product is then dried and processed, which can include powder, extracts or slices. Contrary to what you could be thinking right now, it is not the skin on the outside of the deer antler and not the deer horn which will be used, but the inside of the deer antler.

The “deer velvet” has been around for 3000 years already. In Hunan Province, China, a silk scroll was recovered from these ancient times, listing 52 different diseases for which deer antler velvet was used as a medicine. Deer velvet competed with some valuable and rare types of ginseng as an elixir of the gods. Deer Antler velvet is traded widely throughout the world, mainly in the Orient and in Russia.

Though the use of Deer Velvet in Oriental and Chinese medicine has a long tradition, scientific evaluation of its effects is more recent. Studies originate mainly from Russia, Korea, China, Japan and New Zealand. Results caused the interest in deer velvet to increase rapidly.

Deer Antler is known to have wide ranging benefits, but it is especially known as an outstanding aphrodisiac. Men take it not only for sexual dysfunction, but also to increase desire and endurance. Women take deer velvet for menstrual and menopausal problems or infertility.


What is the composition of an ancient wonder such as the deer velvet?

Proteins
The structural materials in cells that aid tissue growth and repair.

Lipids
Builds cell components and boosts energy to enhance cellular activities. Deer velvet contains all essential fatty acids including Omega 3 and 6, Protoeolipids, and gangliosides.

Collagen
A protein widely recognised for the promotion of healthily skin and hair but also a vital structural protein component of bones, tendons, ligaments and cartilage, providing elasticity and shock absorbing properties and a strong framework to hold other cells. Collagen is known to help rebuild joint cartilage.

Amino Acids
Deer velvet contains over 30 Amino Acids including ten of the most essential.


Minerals/Trace Elements

Calcium
Provides structure for bones and teeth, and is essential for nerve impulse conduction, muscle contraction and blood clotting.

Copper
Necessary for red blood cell development, bones, and nerves.

Iron
Essential for blood cells transporting oxygen throughout the body.

Manganese
Needed for development of bones and connective tissue, and for normal functioning of the nervous system.

Selenium
Powerful antioxidant.

Magnesium
Required in metabolic reactions and storing and releasing energy in cells.

Phosphorus
Provides structure for bones and teeth, and is a component of nearly all metabolic reactions.

Potassium
For nerve and muscle function.

Sulphur
A component of various amino acids and insulin.

Zinc
Involved in digestion and respiration, and is necessary for normal wound healing and skin health.


Growth Factors
Improves muscular development. Insulin like Growth Factor (IGF-1) and Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF). Growth hormones and factors have an effect on growth and maintenance of bones and stimulating cartilage growth. They also have growth promoting actions on the skin.


Glycosaminoglycans

Glucosamine
An amino sugar that occurs naturally in the body and is a major basic nutrient used by the body in the production, maintenance and repair of all joint structure including cartilage, bone, tendon, ligaments and joint fluids. It is also a component of synovial fluid, which lubricates and serves as a shock absorber for the joints.

Chondroitin
Extremely potent anti-inflammatory agent.

Prostaglandins
A chemical regulator produced in all tissues that tell the body how to react to inflammation, infection and pain. Causes a broad range of positive effects on many of the body's defense systems.

Phospholipids
In cell membranes these are the effective structural materials that help facilitate the passage of fat in and out of the cells and the blood.


What benefits will you get from “deer velvet”?

Research Findings:

• Promotes stamina and endurance
• Restores lost energy
• Improves mental power
• Controls blood pressure
• Increases the effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs while reducing their side effects
• Stimulates the production of red blood cells in the bone marrow
• Boosts the immune system and hemoglobin levels

Ancient Belief:

• An ultimate primal essence (Jing) tonic and a good tonic for the blood since it replenishes not only the blood but also the essence
• It strengthens the mind and enlivens the spirit (shen)
• Tones and fortifies the Yang energy (or Yang Jing) of the kidney
• Builds sexual strength and increases virility and fertility
• Strengthen the bones and tendons making it good for strengthening of the back, knees and waste
• Deer antler’s overall use is as a rejuvenating agent whose short term use is believed to quickly build strength and power, while consistent long-term use is believed to re-build deep life force, preserve youthfulness or even reverse aging, and to enhance longevity.

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Sea Cucumber as an aphrodisiac

The sea cucumber is an echinoderm of the class Holothuroidea, with an elongated body and leathery skin, which is found on the sea floor worldwide. It has a gelatinous characteristic and is distantly related to star fish and sea urchins. It is so named because of its cucumber-like shape. Like all echinoderms, sea cucumbers have an endoskeleton just below the skin. It has a distinctly phallic appearance, which may account for its reputation as an aphrodisiac. Sea cucumbers are generally scavengers, feeding on debris in the benthic layer. The diet of most cucumbers consists of plankton and decaying organic matter found in the sea. One way they might get a supply of food is to position themselves in a current where they can catch food that flow by with their tentacles when they open. Another way is to sift through the bottom sediments using their tentacles.

Sea cucumber is considered a delicacy in Far East countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. It is also highly valued for its supposed medicinal and aphrodisiac properties. The flesh of the animal is "cleaned" in a process that takes several days. The food item is often purchased dried, and then re-hydrated before use. The product is used in soups, stews and braised dishes due to its gelatinous texture.

Some varieties of sea cucumber, such as gamat in Malaysia and/or trepang in Indonesia, are said to have excellent healing properties. Traditionally, the Chinese believed that it can cure high blood pressure and joint pains. There are pharmaceutical companies being built based on this gamat product. Extracts are prepared and made into oil, cream or cosmetics. Some products are intended to be taken internally. The effectiveness of sea cucumber extract in tissue repair has been the subject of serious study. It not only helps a wound heal more quickly but is also said to reduce scarring. Its aphrodisiac properties were fetched from traditional Chinese beliefs surrounding the creature’s potent effects on virility and no scientific researches were made to prove the claims to it.

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Cobra an Aphrodisiac

It is quite uncertain how and why it started; but it hasn’t gone unnoticed for many psychologists that most aphrodisiacs, especially from the east, are derived mostly from creatures that are either dangerous, or are so rare that it is difficult to come by. Because of these beliefs of power being drawn from the bellies of rare poisonous and fierce animals, it often lead to disastrous consequences such as lives sacrificed for obtaining such precious (and most often highly priced) elixirs, and the demise of a species hunted down to extinction. One such animal is the cobra. The more poisonous the species is, the more potent its aphrodisiac qualities. (Of course, it follows that the more powerful the effect is the more expensive, right?)

Drinking these serpents’ blood is the usual method to derive its aphrodisiac power. It is done by mixing the cobra’s blood with a strong alcoholic beverage. Most say, the alcohol serves as a neutralizer to kill the taste of the snake’s blood. Other ways include infusing a whole cobra into a jar or bottle filled with alcohol (such as whiskey, rice wine, etc) with several other herbs to add-up to the sexual revitalizing effect and left for several years or months to produce a certain aged brew that most believe would yield better results. Most often, to avoid unnecessary wastage of the animal, the body (beheaded and dripped-off of blood) is usually cooked into a tasty culinary delight. Another rare and crazier process of getting the libidinous magic out of the cobra is by mixing a pint, perhaps just a miniscule, of its venom to a an alcoholic beverage. Now that, my friend, I believe, will definitely injure if not kill you, instead of causing your snake to throb inside your pants.

There had been no scientific research conducted to provide an answer to the claims of cobra’s aphrodisiac powers but there has been an insightful thought that crossed my search for answers about this controversy:

“It is clear that the cobra toxin has a powerful effect on smooth muscle and vascular endothelium (the things that cause erections) ... initially, cobra venom has a very powerful relaxing effect (which could cause the corpus callosum to relax and trap blood in strategic reproductive areas). The initial relaxation/expansion is followed by an opposing, contracting effect.”

---aphrodisiology.com (from PubMed Reference)

Because of the “pants-tightening” characteristic of cobras most eastern nations believe in, it elevated snake farming, particularly that of cobras, to both an art and a profitable business for enterprising farmers. As with virtually all foods, a fresh product is considered best. It is common practice for some unscrupulous proprietors though to substitute other substances for cobra blood. It is probably best to insist that the blood be extracted while you watch.

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Soup No. 5

Soup No. 5, or Lanciao in the Visayan region of Philippines, is a soup whose primary ingredient is a bull’s dick. It is believed to be a very potent aphrodisiac similar to Viagra. These claims of course come from those who are regularly eating the soup dish.

To the unsuspecting eye or palette, Soup No. 5 may simply look and taste like a regular meat soup. And since it’s made with an animal’s loins, many people–mostly Filipino men–believe that they can take on the physical attributes of the consumed animal and swear by the soup as a libido enhancer.

Beef penis and testicles are washed and cleaned, then scalded in boiling water. The genitalia are then cut into pieces and set aside. Various other ingredients such as pork or chicken, ginger, and vegetables are combined in a stock pot with the beef penis and testicles, covered with enough water and simmered until tender. It is then seasoned with salt or pepper and served hot.

The genitals along with the meat were all chopped to innocuous, bite-sized pieces which make it easy to get over the fact that you’re consuming the beef’s “tenders.” Eating the peen and balls isn’t daunting at all since they are tender like cartilage, slightly spongy and gummy.

A google search about a bull's testicles nutrition fact would yield you this:

Serving Size: 100g (3.5oz)
Calories: 135
Protein: 26g
Fat: 3g
Cholesterol: 375mg
Carbohydrates: 1g

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Ants in Pants, When Ants are Used as Aphrodisiac

Nope it’s not one of those Chinese controversies where millions of investors lost big money to a company that had a plan to produce aphrodisiacs from ants. Actually, there is a tradition of using ants as aphrodisiacs, and some science that suggest how it might actually have a real effect.

Ants have been widely used and very highly regarded in China as a tonic for over 3000 years. Ant has been referred to in a number of famous Chinese medicinal classics, including Li Shi Chen’s Ben Cao Gang Mu, where the great master praised ants as a superior tonic with excellent curative powers. It has been universally touted as a superb Liver and Kidney tonic of the highest order. Its name, which it received in ancient times, means "black horse." Imperial records indicate that numerous emperors and other noblemen have consumed ant tonics to promote sexuality and to increase longevity.

In Amazon, a rare delicacy involves the world’s largest species of ant. Hormigas Culonas are harvested in the Colombian Amazon by the Guane Indians, during the short rainy season between March and June. They are then toasted in a mud pot over an open fire by the Indians. The Guane Indians believe that these Ants have youth giving and aphrodisiac properties and they are often served as fertility giving marriage food during nuptial ceremonies.

During the middle ages, an Arab doctor named Saduck wrote that ants can be used as an aphrodiac. He believed that if you take one hundred large, black ants and macerate them for three weeks in half an ounce of light oil you can then use the solution to anoint the urethra orifice to accelerate erections.

One ant species that has been marketed well as an aphrodisiac is Polyrhachis Vicina Roger, commonly known as "Black Ant". It’s from China and the Chinese believed it has such excellent curative powers that it's various beneficial effects include: increased strength, energy, stamina, strengthens the nervous system, digestive functions, detoxification functions and muscular system, boosts mental and physical energy (one of the probable reason why they were easily scammed with the “Ant Aphrodisiac” controversy).

Tonics made from these black ants were widely consumed to promote strength, sexual vigor and as a powerful antiaging agent. It is considered a premium adaptogenic substance in the same ranks as Ginseng, Siberian Ginseng, Rhodiola, Schizandra, Cordyceps and Gynostemma, the adaptogenic superstars of traditinal Chinese medicine.

In traditional Chinese medicine, black ant tonic is widely believed to prevent common symptoms associated with aging, such as lumbago, memory loss, joint problems, fatigue, climacteric symptoms, cardiovascular disease, etc. Ant strengthens the entire Kidney system, including the sexual functions, skeletal structures and renal system. It also strengthens the nervous system, digestive functions, detoxification functions and muscular system. Therefore ant products have become extremely popular with middle aged and elderly consumers in Asia. Ants are being called the "forever young" nutritional supplement.

Several varieties of ants are used in traditional Chinese medicine, all with virtually the same attributes. These different varieties come from different regions in China. Each region claims that its ants are superior. Both black ants (primarily from southern and central China) and red ants (primarily from northeastern China) are used. Ants from high, pristine mountain ranges such as the Himalayas in southern China and Tibet, or the Changbai Mountains in northeastern China are considered the finest and most potent. Most of the tonic ants are large ants.

Ants are extremely rich in nutrients, including significant amounts of vitamins B1, B2, B12, D and E. An ant contains more than 42% protein and provides 8 essential amino acids. It contains enzymes and other active substances. The ATP in ants can provide energy directly to the human body. Ants are rich in more than 20 trace elements such as magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, selenium, and especially zinc.

Polyrachis, or this black ant, is particularly rich in zinc. Its zinc content is the highest among all known living organisms. Every gram of dried ants contains 180 mg. of zinc. This undoubtedly explains part of ant’s strong beneficial influence on sexuality, as zinc is a critical element in the human sexual function. Studies have shown that regular use of ant tonics can prevent and treat disorders associated with zinc deficiency, including senile cataract, night blindness, incontinence, and sexual dysfunctions (i.e. impotence, spermatorrhea and premature ejaculation in men and menorrhagia, frigidity and climacteric symptoms in women).

A unique set of aldehyde compounds found in all edible species of Polyrachis has been demonstrated to have a stronger tonic action than ginseng, and it has thus far been impossible to synthesize this chemical. These aldehydes compounds include geranicaldehyde (C10H16O) and formalindehyde (HCHO, C10H14O). It is believed to be a result of these and several similar aldehydes, as well as some other chemicals in ant, that give ants their enormous physical strength---and ultimately give the consumers of ant the well-established increase in strength and vitality.

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