Having trouble getting your lady friend in the mood? Try a glass or two of red wine. Researchers in Italy have found that chemical compounds found in red wine may improve women's sexual desire.

Doctors at the University of Florence studied 800 women aged 18 to 50 and divided them into three groups: those who usually drank one to two glasses of red wine per day, those who drank less than a glass a day, and those who were teetotalers. All the women completed a detailed questionnaire about their sexuality.

Women who drank red wine regularly had the highest functioning sexuality. What's even more striking about the results is that the red wine drinkers were generally older than the other two groups and age is linked to a declining sex drive.

One theory is that the antioxidants in red wine may help to widen the blood vessels, increasing blood flow to key parts of the body. The results were reported last week in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

photo credit: BrainOnFire