Viagra works, but chocolate works better

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2006

LAGOS (AFP) — 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. 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...