A naturally-occurring hormone that makes people horny has been turned into an injection for the libidinously challenged — and it may help users feel more attractive as well.
New research out of the prestigious Imperial College London is focused on the functioning of a hormone called "kisspeptin" that could "be used to treat women and men distressed by their low sexual desire" — and, fascinatingly, found that some of the participants actually felt sexier as a result of the therapy.
As a prior study about kisspeptin from 2021 noted, the hormone is what's known as a "neuromodulator" that functions as a sort of switchboard for other sex-related secretions. It plays a big part in bringing on the onset of puberty — hence the "horny like a teenager" cliche — and is connected to everything from physical processes like egg and sperm development to more mental phenomena, such as the way we develop and sustain desire and sexual patterns.
Imperial College came to this conclusion about the naturally-occurring hormone by studying both men and women who experience low libido and arousal separately in trials that involved them getting injections of the hormone and looking at pictures of hot people (and, in the case of men, testing their "penile rigidity" as well).
The findings, which were published separately by gender cohort in the JAMA Network Open journal, documented how an injection of kisspeptin seems to "boost sexual pathways" in both groups.
As the press release about the studies notes, the experience of low arousal and desire (known clinically as hypoactive sexual desire disorder or HSDD) affects up to 10 percent of women and eight percent of men worldwide — and it can have "devastating psychological and social impacts" for those who suffer from it.
Prior to this new Imperial College research, the researchers found that kisspeptin could "enhance responses to sexual stimuli" in men who don't suffer from HSDD, but these twin trials are, per the school's statement, the first of their kind in studying its effects on those who have HSDD.
Interestingly, the press release includes a number of testimonials from some of the studies' participants — one of whom said that the week he got his active kisspeptin injection, he and his partner actually conceived a child.
So far, the team hasn't, per one of its papers, seen any adverse effects to the injection, either. We'll be watching this one.
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