Garlic Can Actually Rev up Your Sex Life, Along With 3 Other Benefits

Tracey Lockwood Beckerman, RD, shares the deets on garlic's impressive health benefits. Watch the video.

Hear me out: Garlic can be a serious turn on. Not in the whisper-sweet-nothings-in-my-ear-with-garlic-breath kind of way, but in the biological way. Like oysters, chocolate, and hot peppers, the allium is a secret aphrodisiac—as revealed by top dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman in the latest episode of  Well+Good's nutrition-focused YouTube series You Versus Food.

The potent veg (native to the onion family, ICYWW) can also help in the bedroom, thanks to allicin. "Allicin is an active compound of garlic that can actually increase blood flow, which may enhance sexual energy," Beckerman says. Good to know.

However, there is a potential downside to garlic that might hinder your romantic efforts: It can also make you smelly thanks to another powerful compound called allele sulfide. "The same powerful compounds that make garlic so healthy for our body can also be the reason why our sweat smells extra funky after our workout," Beckerman says. "When the allele sulfide compounds are being metabolized, which can take up to two days, they enter out blood stream and their odor can actually exit through our skin, and mix with our sweat to create a pretty noticeable odor." So on behalf of all your future bedmates, please wear deodorant if you're eating garlic chicken right before getting busy.

Arousal aside, garlic has a ton of other health benefits that you can learn about by watching the full video above. But first things first: Learn how to cut garlic the right way.

Looking for more You Versus Food? Here's the lowdown from Beckerman on oat milk and avocados.