Love Potion #2
Love potions? Is that even possible?
When I was young, I heard a song called Love Potion #9 and it really got me to wonder if such a thing was possible. After all, we are biochemical in nature, so surely in theory this would be possible?
After years in college, I now understand that you can’t just take something orally and expect it to go systemic in your blood. Even then, it might not pass the blood-brain barrier. Maybe an injection could do this, but that defeats the spirit of the idea. I see the spirit of this idea as being a safe and amazingly effective, fast-acting, oral or inhaled chemical. Something you could maybe just drink or breathe in.
In theory, you could activate the right genes and add some chemicals, and surely that would do the trick. But again, this goes against the spirit of the idea (too expensive, too invasive, too risky).
NOTE: This is just a thought experiment, and some brainstorming, and should not be taken as medical advice. This is certainly not medical advice. See the Disclaimers below.
So let’s break the idea down. What is love anyway, at the biological and chemical level, and can it be activated chemically? And if so, what chemicals might be involved?
What is love?
This 2017 article on the science behind lust, attraction, and companionship[1] defined love as having 3 components, lust, attraction, and attachment, and since I don’t have a better starting place, I used that.
Lust
So what is lust and can it be chemically induced? Well, it turns out there is some research that says these chemicals have roles in this: testosterone, DHEA, estrogen, pheromones from apocrine glands (like Androstenone, Androstadienone, Estratetraenol, and Copulins), androsterone, 4,16-androstadien-3-one, belladonna *, PT-141 (aka Bremelanotide), viagra. [2]
Attraction
What about attraction, are there known chemicals for that? Yes, here is a partial list. I quit searching when I got tired, but apparently, a few do exist. Things that raise serotonin for example (MDMA, LSD, ), and also dopamine, norepinephrine, ghrelin, and cannabinoids are mentioned in the literature. [3] The dopamine, feel-good, connection is something that is being reasearched. Apomorphine is a “dopamine agonist”, meaning it mimics the effects of dopamine by binding to D1 and D2 receptors in the brain (Hims, 2023). Romantic love is characterized by intense dopamine activity in the brain’s reward centers, and Apomorphine chemically simulates the “high” or “euphoria” associated with early-stage romance.
Attachment
So what about attachment? I found less information for that one, but did find vasopressin and oxytocin [4]
Social factors
I would add another element, but this is less scientific. Love is not logical, so maybe you need something to make people throw out logic and reason, if only for a moment. Maybe those chemicals are in humans already, if you watch the news, but any good love potion would be able to set off that reaction. An example of that might be the traditional date or party - you’re all there to have a good time, and that may be a necessary ingredient. You have to let down those normal social barriers, like skepticism, wariness, and distrust.
Adding ultra-low-dose Buprenorphine might look good on paper to blunt the social fear of rejection—a mechanism tied to its opioid receptor antagonism, which mitigates psychic pain.
History
In the 4th century, “deadly nightshade” aka Atropa belladonna aka “beautiful woman” in Italian was used in the Renaissance by women in eyedrops to dilate the pupils and make the eyes appear more seductive. In fact, there are some studies that support this being an attractant. [5]
Extracts of plants in this family have been used for centuries in love potions, magic, and to kill people of course, since some of the chemicals in this family of plants can be quite deadly, leading to their common names like ‘Deadly Nightshade Family’. [5] [6]
The African Yohimbe tree has an alpha-2 adrenergic antagonist in its bark. This boosts norepinephrine and increases blood flow. It has been used for decades as an over-the-counter libido enhancer. And extracts of Maca Root is thought to interact with the endocannabinoid system to reduce stress and subtly boost sexual desire. Herbs of course are full of chemicals, sometimes unstudied, and with doses that vary depending on growth conditions.
And here is a bit of modern lore. Recent neuroscience research has shown that blockbuster GLP-1 weight-loss drugs actually blunt the brain’s dopamine reward and motivation pathways. Great for weight loss. Bad for love. GLPs can inadvertently suppress the intense, obsessive, reward-seeking infatuation known as “limerence” (the crazy, compulsive phase of falling in love). So, a love potion would probably need to block GLP-1 signaling to allow the obsessive, infatuated dopamine spike to take over!
So should you attempt any of this?
Of course not. I’m just some idiot on the Internet, not a doctor. Some of these chemicals can be very dangerous. And some are prescription only. That said, you should read the article about lions and oxytocin. It’s cute. [4a] Do your research.
And the concept of a love potion is interesting, and maybe big pharma will crack the code someday, and you’ll be able to buy it in the pharmacy. (But don’t hold your breath. This seems like something that won’t be legal.)
I had a cat that was spraying the house and the vet prescribed Prozac of all things, but despite the extremely long list of possible side effects, it worked pretty well and he began to get along with the other cats much better after that. However, Prozac and other SSRIs sometimes have a side effect of decrease in libido and physical sexual function.
They usually test things on rats first, but unfortunately this is one of those cases where the test animal is very different from humans. A simple concoction of rat urine, containing the ESP1 peptide, might work pretty well for rats, but not for humans at all.
So if I were creating a love potion for rats, I’d have to swap out the human ingredients. Those "human pheromones" like Androstadienone and Estratetraenol are highly controversial in human science anyway, but to a rat, they're completely useless. So, my rodent love potion would consist of oxytocin, a healthy splash of ESP1 peptide, and a base note of concentrated, premium rat urine. And maybe some Prozac to calm their social anxiety.
However, it probably wouldn't work very well, and it would smell absolutely horrible to humans, so I wouldn't call it Love Potion #9. Maybe I would call it Love Potion #2 (for Rats).
Here is a summary of some chemicals, we have discussed:
Summary.
After reading some safety info, I think that one lesson here is, don’t trust random idiots on the Internet (like me) for important issues. And perhaps the reason that Big Pharma hasn’t created a love potion yet, is because of the potential drug-drug interactions that are possible here?
If you did mix up this entire concoction, you are more likely to end up in the emergency room than falling in love, because bundling these together is a pharmacological nightmare. Here are a few of the reasons:
Yohimbine + Prozac / MDMA / Caffeine are a bad combo, because Yohimbine is a potent alpha-2 antagonist that essentially cuts the brakes on your body’s adrenaline (norepinephrine) system, mimicking a massive “fight-or-flight” response. When mixed with an SSRI like Prozac, or stimulants like MDMA, the heart-rate and blood-pressure-boosting effects multiply. So let us remove Yohimbe from the list, despite its history as an ingredient.
Likewise, Apomorphine + Viagra are a bad combo because Viagra/Sildenafil works by widening blood vessels to increase blood flow. Apomorphine, the dopamine agonist, also has significant vasodilatory properties. Since they have an additive effect that can cause an individual’s blood pressure to plummet, this could result in severe dizziness, fainting, or worse.
Although I should point out that some subsets of these combinations, such as Tadalafil and Oxytocin and PT-141 are already in use from different sources. [8][9] And we might expect other combinations to surface in the next few years.
What do you think?
THIS ONE!