Lagos - Viagra may heat up one's sex drive, but chocolate can make it sizzle.
So said Dr. Dora Akunyili, the director of Nigeria's
Federal Agency for Food and Medicine, in advising Nigerians on Monday to forego the little, libido-boosting blue pills in favor of a measured dose of cocoa.
Dark
chocolates. Viagra may heat up one's sex drive, but chocolate can make it
sizzle, according to Dr. Dora Akunyili, the director of Nigeria's Federal
Agency for Food and Medicine. [AFP] |
To back up her claims -- made during a meeting with the vice-governor of one
of Nigeria's states -- the good doctor cited a recently published study
extolling the libidinal qualities of cocoa beans.
The report, produced by Nigeria's national committee for the development of
cocoa, may be a bit skimpy on double-blind scientific tests, but it does refer
to the marketing campaign of a British trade association making similar claims.
Baptized "Feeding Your Imagination", the campaign will soon launch a product
line of six energy chocolate bars containing essential oils said to enhance
one's mood, and especially one's sexual appetite.
Costing about six US dollars (5 euros) per 100 grams, the bars are fetchingly
named Sexy, Beautiful, Dreamy, Fantastic, Sensual and Lovely, according to the
website foodnavigator.com.
Britons already lead the European Union in chocolate consumption, eating
nearly 10 kilos on average per year, and Britian is thus considered a promising
market for sex candy.
For Akunyili, chocolate is the obvious lover's choice. Viagra, she said, can
have unwelcome side effects, but chocolate is all good: it is the best
anti-oxidant known and -- beyond its sexual virtues -- can help prevent heart
attacks, hypertension and diabetes.
The vice governor, who also happens to head a committee for the promotion of
chocolate, is even more enthusiastic about cocoa's curative powers, claiming it
can "cure breast cancer, get rid of chronic coughs, and enhance brain power".
Akunyili did caution, however, that any new products containing chocolate
will be thoroughly tested before going to market.
