London: For stressed out women suffering from a somewhat reduced libido, there is hope, as a fascinating study suggests that a glass or two of red wine may increase a female's sexual desire.
Italian doctors, who carried out the study, concluded that levels of sexual desire were higher in women who were moderate drinkers of red wine than in their counterparts who preferred other alcoholic drinks, or were teetotal.
The finds of the research, which was reported in the Journal of Sexual Medicine last week, theorised that chemical compounds found in red wine may improve sexual functioning by increasing blood flow to key areas of the body.
"While this finding needs to be interpreted with some caution, it nevertheless suggests a potential relationship between red wine consumption and better sexuality," the researchers was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph on Sunday.
In the first project of its kind aimed to analyse the intake of red wine and women's sexual function, doctors at the University of Florence recruited 800 women aged 18 to 50.
The women, none of whom had reported a sexual health problem, were split into three groups those who regularly consumed one or two glasses of red wine a day, those who consumed less than one glass a day of any sort of wine or other alcohol, and those who were teetotal.
Based on a 'Female Sexual Function Index', it was found that the red wine drinkers scored an average of 27.3 points, compared to 25.9 for the less-frequent tipplers and 24.4 for the non-drinkers, the report said.