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Some medicinal plants with aphrodisiac potential: A current status

https://doi.org/10.1016/S2221-6189(13)60124-9Get rights and content
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Abstract

Aphrodisiac is the word derived from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of sexual, love and beauty. An aphrodisiac is defined as an agent (food or drug) that arouses sexual desire. Current sexual dysfunction therapy lack satisfactory success due to adverse effect, hence patients are seeking complementary and alternative medicine to treat sexual dysfunction. Ayurveda and other Indian literature mention the use of plants in various human ailments. India has about more than 45 000 plant species and among them several thousand are claimed to possess medicinal properties. Researchers conducted in the last few decades on the plants mentioned in ancient literature or used traditionally for sexual dysfunction. This review reveals that some plants and their extract have aphrodisiac activity, which are helpful for researcher to develop new herbal aphrodisiac formulations. In the recent years, interest in drugs of plant origin has been progressively increased.

Keywords

Aphrodisiac
Ayurveda
Herbal medicines
Medicinal property

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Available online 20 September 2013