Researchers from the Santa Chiara hospital in Trento enrolled 731 Italian women from across the country, aged 18 to 43, to take part in an eight-month study aimed at finding a link between daily apple consumption and sexual libido.

The women were split into two groups, those who ate one to two apples a day and those who didn't eat any.

Among the 343 women who made apples part of their diet, researchers found they had higher scores on a sexual function index, especially in the lubrication and desire categories, than those who didn’t.

“We found that women who regularly ate apples, at least one a day, had a much better quality sex life,” Tommaso Cai, one of the lead researchers, told The Local.

He said that while good physical health and a daily intake of vegetables also help boost women’s sexual desire, the most important factor is floridazina, a compound found beneath the skin of the apple that is similar to the hormone estradiol, which plays an important role in female sexual arousal.

“All the women who included an apple or more a day in their diet ate them unpeeled,” he said.

But fear not ladies, you don’t have to restrict yourselves to fruit and vegetables to feel aroused: wine and chocolate are also aphrodisiacs.

“We did some research as few years ago which found that the antioxidants in wine also help improve sex, while a study by other Italian researchers found that chocolate had the same effect,” added Cai.

The results of the study were published in the Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics.