Evaluation of the effect of carrot seed (Daucus Carota) in women of fertile age with hypoactive sexual desire disorder: A randomized double-blind clinical trial.

Background: Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD) is a common sexual problem of women which has negative impacts on their health and quality of life. Given the side effects of pharmacologic interventions, it would be beneficial to patients trying to find new options based on herbal medicine.

Objectives: To evaluate efficacy of carrot seed on sexual dysfunction of women with HSDD compared with placebo.

Methods: In this randomized double-blind clinical trial, 68 participants randomly assigned to the intervention group which took 500 mg carrot seed three times a day for 12 weeks versus placebo. Participants in two groups filled Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire at baseline, week six and 12. Repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used for statistical analysis.

Results: Thirty women in carrot seed group and thirty women in placebo group completed 12 weeks of the study. In general, carrot seed compared to placebo improved the total score of FSFI 7.329 ± 0.830 (p < 0.001), desire 4.1±0.7 (p < 0.001), lubrication 4.7±0.4 (p = 0.019), arousal 4.1±0.08 (p < 0.001), satisfaction 4.8±1.1 (p < 0.001), orgasm 3.9±0.9 (p < 0.001) and pain 5.4±1(p < 0.001). No adverse event was reported in this study.

Conclusions: Women with HSDD may benefit from six weeks' treatment with carrot seed for improvement of sexual dysfunction. Further large clinical studies are warranted to confirm efficacy of this herbal drug.