It could be as easy as popping a pill: Scientists race to unlock 'love drug'

It could be as easy as popping a pill: Scientists race to unlock 'love drug'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:31 AM on 08th January 2009

It looks like bad news for those romantic souls forever musing on the nature of love.

A behavioural scientist reckons it is only a matter of time before biologists reduce the
mysteries of being smitten to nothing more than a chain of biochemical events.

In doing so, they will not only put paid to many a poetic rambling but could also pave he way to creating the ultimate love potion.

Writing in the journal Nature, Professor Larry Young, of Emory University in Atlanta
in the U.S., suggests that if the secrets of love are unlocked, the path is then clear for finding ways of enhancing it.


Love drug: The oxytocin hormone is involved in sex and sexual attraction. It promotes trust and confidence and reduces fear

A frontrunner in the race to find a ‘love pill’ is oxytocin. Known as the ‘cuddle hormone’,
it plays a key role in bonding. Oxytocin is involved in sex and sexual attraction, promotes feeling of trust and confidence and helps to reduce fear.

It is released into the blood during labour - triggering the production of breast milk - and floods the brain during breastfeeding, helping mother and baby bond.

Studies have shown that those with the highest levels of oxytocin are the most trusting and more willing to give money away.

Boosting oxytocin levels also makes it easier for people to read others' emotions and eases shyness and phobias. If that were not enough, recent research credited an oxytocin spray with the power to ease relationship squabbles.

Although similar sprays can be bought over the internet, Professor Young, of Emory University in Atlanta in the US, does not recommend people part with their money just yet.

He said: 'Although such products are unlikely to do anything other than boost users' confidence, studies are underway in Australia to determine whether an oxytocin spray might aid traditional marital therapy.'

Prozac and Viagra both affect the balance of oxytocin in the body but no one has looked at how they affect relationships.

Genetics may also hold the cue to lasting romance, with recent research showing the inability to commit is in the genes.

Men with the 'love rate gene' are less likely to marry - even when they have children to a partner of many years' standing.

Those that have tied the knot are twice as likely to be in a rocky marriage and to have discussed the possibility of divorce.

Perhaps not surprisingly, partners of men with the flawed copy of the AVPR1A gene are less than happy with their lot in life, the Swedish study found.

It is thought the suspect gene, which was carried by about 40 per cent of the men studied, may affect the way the brain uses vasopressin, another bonding hormone.

Professor Young concluded: 'The possibility that genetic variation may influence the quality of our romantic relationships also has intriguing implications.

'Perhaps genetic tests for the suitability of potential partners will one day become available, the results of which could accompany, and even over-ride our gut instincts in selecting the perfect partner.

'Either way, recent advances in the biology of pair bonding mean it won't be long before an unscrupulous suitor could slip a "love potion" in our drink.

'And if they did, would we care?

'After all, love is insanity.'

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1108664/It-easy-popping-pill-Scientists-race-unlock-love-drug.html