Foods of love? Not so fast, Casanova

4) Chile Peppers
THE MYTH: Both the shape of most chile peppers and their mouth-scalding qualities have contributed to the belief that they'll make your evening muy caliente.

The shape belief isn’t unique to chiles.  Bananas, cucumbers, carrots and even asparagus have acquired reputations as love-inducing for a similar reason. (If you’re not sure what I mean, stop reading now and go pick up a copy of Freud.)

Most spicy foods seem to have a similar reputation, generally a link between the heat of the food and any ensuing passion. As chile expert Dave DeWitt of Fiery Foods Magazine notes, the Kama Sutra — written before chiles were introduced to India — advised that eating spicy foods could make people “fickle and restless.” Young Brahmans were barred from eating chiles.

THE REALITY: Capsaicin, chiles' heat-inducing compound, has significant physical effects on human bodies — most of them good.

It modulates pain signals, which led to its use as a topical medication for everything from headaches to arthritis. As a dietary aid, it acts as an antioxidant, thins mucus, aids digestion by increasing production of gastric juices and may lower cholesterol.

It is also thought to increase metabolism, including heart rate and blood flow, which is the most likely explanation for its reputed sexual properties.

While chiles obviously make people hot and bothered, it's a stretch to say they put us in the mood, though there's that fine line between pain and pleasure, which is why so many people enjoy chiles, even finding the heat addictive.

When it comes to hot peppers, says Linda DeVillers, who studies popular beliefs about aphrodisiacs and is working on an aphrodisiac cookbook, “the pain and pleasure connection really occurs.”

So no actual effects or secret compounds at work? “I don’t think chile peppers are aphrodisiacal in any way shape or form,” says DeWitt, author of “The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia.” “There’s no evidence.”

Oh, that shape thing: There is a slightly stumpy, medium-hot variety called the Peter pepper, DeWitt notes, known for being “anatomically correct.”

We’ll leave it at that.