Dangerous aphrodisiacs: love potions that can kill

Imagine wanting a night of hot, sweaty sex so badly that you rub toad venom on your genitals. People really did that. The history of dangerous aphrodisiacs is a long list of humans being very horny and very badly informed.

For most of history, nobody understood how desire worked. Lust seemed mysterious, almost magical, so people went looking for magical cures. Rare plants, strange animals and potent poisons all promised to stir passion. Toxic aphrodisiacs made a twisted kind of sense, because many poisons cause flushing, a racing heart, wide pupils and tingling skin. Those are also signs of being turned on, so people mistook poisoning for passion.

Others relied on the idea that things shaped like genitals, or taken from powerful animals, would pass on their qualities. That history matters today, because some of these remedies are still sold under new names, and people still get hurt.

Status played a part too. A rare powder from a distant land felt special, and special felt powerful. The more exotic and expensive a potion was, the more people wanted to believe it worked.

This guide walks through the most dangerous aphrodisiacs on record, why people trusted them, and what to look out for on shop shelves now. Think of it as a history lesson with a very practical twist.

Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, takes its name from the Italian for beautiful lady. Renaissance women reportedly used drops of it to widen their pupils. Big, dark pupils are a natural sign of attraction, so the belladonna aphrodisiac look seemed seductive, almost hypnotic.

The plant contains atropine and related compounds that hit the nervous system. In larger amounts they cause a racing heart, flushed skin, confusion, hallucinations and, in serious cases, seizures and death. Its berries are sweet, which makes accidental poisoning more likely.

Belladonna also turns up in folklore about witches' flying ointments, which may have caused vivid hallucinations. None of it has anything to do with genuine desire. Purified atropine is a useful hospital drug, but the raw plant is one to admire from a very safe distance.

Mandrake is one of the oldest love plants on record. Its forked root can look a little like a human body, which fuelled centuries of legend. In the Bible, Rachel and Leah bargain over mandrakes, and the plant was linked with fertility and seduction across the ancient Mediterranean.

Like belladonna, mandrake belongs to the nightshade family and carries similar toxic alkaloids. It can cause drowsiness, delirium, blurred vision and dangerous heart effects. Because a root's strength varies with season and soil, nobody could predict how strong a batch would be. A dose one lover survived could poison the next.

Folk healers guarded their recipes closely and mixed these plants into wine, ointments and charms. Nobody measured anything. Lovers simply trusted the person selling the potion, which is exactly the trust modern scam sellers still rely on.

Datura, also called thorn apple or jimsonweed, is a relative with a similar story. It has caused many hospital admissions when people experimented with it. The line between a dreamy, sensual buzz and a medical emergency is far too thin to gamble on.

Belladonna, mandrake and datura are a reminder that dangerous aphrodisiacs often grow wild and look perfectly innocent. Pretty flowers, sweet berries, a root that looks like a tiny person. None of that tells you how much poison is inside.

This one sounds like a joke, but it has a body count. Certain toads produce venom from glands behind their eyes, containing compounds called bufotoxins. These act on the heart much like an overdose of the heart drug digoxin.

Dried toad secretions have a long history in traditional Chinese medicine, used in small amounts for other purposes. Trouble came when a toad venom aphrodisiac was sold as a love stone, meant to be rubbed on the genitals. Some people swallowed it instead. In the mid-1990s, US health officials linked several deaths in New York to products of this kind.

Symptoms include vomiting, a very slow or irregular heartbeat and collapse. There is no safe recreational dose, and any product that claims to contain toad extract should be treated as dangerous, however exotic and sexy the packaging looks.

If anyone feels sick, dizzy or notices a slow, irregular pulse after using a product like this, treat it as an emergency. Call 999 in the UK and take the packaging with you, because doctors need to know exactly what they are dealing with.

No list of dangerous aphrodisiacs is complete without Spanish fly. Made from crushed blister beetles, it contains cantharidin, which irritates the urinary tract so badly it can cause a painful, lasting erection and intense genital burning. For centuries people confused this with arousal.

In reality it causes vomiting, bloody urine, kidney damage and sometimes death. The dose that harms sits very close to the dose that kills, and beetle powder varies hugely in strength. Historical records are full of poisonings, including the 1772 scandal in which the Marquis de Sade was accused of dosing women with laced sweets.

Most products sold as Spanish fly today do not contain the real thing. That is a lucky escape rather than a recommendation, and any product sold on the promise of working on someone without their knowledge is selling spiking, which is a crime.

No. Not every deadly aphrodisiac kills the person taking it. Some kill the animals they come from. The rhino horn aphrodisiac idea is widely repeated, although in traditional Chinese medicine the horn was mainly used for fevers. Either way, there is no evidence it does anything for your sex life.

Rhino horn is made of keratin, the same protein as your fingernails and hair. You would get the same erotic kick from chewing your nails. Despite that, poaching for the horn trade has pushed several rhino species to the edge of extinction.

• Rhino horn: keratin, no sexual effect, huge poaching toll.
• Tiger parts: no proven benefit, and tigers are endangered.
• Seahorses: traded in vast numbers with no good evidence.
• Pangolin scales: also keratin, from one of the most trafficked mammals on earth.

If you care about your sex life, care about where an ingredient comes from too. These products offer nothing in bed and cause enormous harm outside it. Of all the dangerous aphrodisiacs on this list, they may have done the most damage overall, just not to the people swallowing them.

Yohimbe comes from the bark of a West African tree. Its active compound, yohimbine, has been studied for erection problems with some modest results, which is why it shows up in so many sex supplements and pre-workout powders.

The trouble is that bark products vary wildly in strength, and labels do not always match what is inside. Yohimbe side effects include anxiety, a racing heart, high blood pressure, sweating, sleeplessness and, rarely, more serious heart reactions. It can also clash with antidepressants and blood pressure medicine.

If you are hoping for harder erections or more stamina, yohimbe is a risky shortcut. A doctor or pharmacist can point you towards treatments that are better studied and far safer for your heart.

Yohimbe is a useful example of how dangerous aphrodisiacs are not always ancient. Some are sitting in tubs in the supplement aisle right now, with gym-friendly branding and very little quality control.

A big modern problem is the herbal sex pill that is not really herbal. Regulators in the UK, US and elsewhere regularly find products sold as natural that secretly contain prescription erection drugs, sometimes at high doses or in odd combinations.

For someone taking nitrate heart medicine, that can cause a dangerous drop in blood pressure. Others have found stimulants or weight-loss drugs hiding in so-called libido blends for women.

Old remedies from unregulated sources can also contain heavy metals like lead, mercury or arsenic. Natural does not always mean safe, and exotic packaging does not mean ancient wisdom. Sometimes it just means nobody checked.

The safest move is simple. If you want an erection drug, get a real one from a pharmacy after a proper check. If you want a libido boost, start with sleep, stress and better foreplay before you spend a penny.

You do not need a pharmacy degree to dodge the worst products. A few warning signs come up again and again.

• Promises of instant, dramatic or guaranteed results.
• Claims that it works on someone without their knowledge.
• No full ingredient list, or ingredients you cannot identify.
• Sold only through pop-up websites, market stalls or social media.
• Animal parts from endangered species.

Be especially wary of souvenir love potions bought abroad or herbal blends with dramatic names. Labels may be in a language you cannot read, and the product may never have been tested. Bringing some animal products home can also break wildlife trade laws. If it looks too good to be true, it usually is.

The good news is that you do not need poison to feel hornier. Plenty of foods and herbs are safe in sensible amounts and bring their own pleasure, from dark chocolate and chilli to saffron, ginseng and maca.

Even more powerful are the everyday things: proper sleep, less stress, regular exercise, honest conversation and slow, teasing touch. Try a long make-out session with no rush to get naked, or a massage that wanders wherever your partner asks it to. They lack the drama of a toad-venom love stone, but they work, and they will not land you in hospital.

Think of the history of dangerous aphrodisiacs as a cautionary tale. People wanted what we want today: to feel close, wanted and alive. They just went looking in all the wrong places.

You have a big advantage over them. You know that the hottest aphrodisiacs are trust, time and a partner who is properly into you. Dangerous aphrodisiacs belong in museums, not in your bedside drawer.