Chocolate and Science
No one seems to talk about chocolate addiction, if they praise chocolate. Let’s examine the facts. It is controversial whether or not chocolate is addictive. If yes, who consumes it and why, if there are any ingredients which are responsible for addiction. Let’s see what we know so far.
Most of the research about chocolate talks about two independent factors: chocolate craving and guilt. As the two factors are independent; strong chocolate consumption does not necessarily come with associated guilt. Most of the chocolate “cravers” consume it when they are feeling down or in a bad mood, so they use it to raise their spirit or get in to a good mood. “Guilt” types are usually not satisfied with their body, have got low self-esteem, if they eat chocolate they feel guilty, in some cases self-inflicted vomiting can occur. According to the researchers the two factors must be separated as earlier studies did not find any correlation between eating chocolate and raising someone’s mood. It is quite obvious, as you probably will not get into a good mood if you eat chocolate and feel guilty after that. It can be assumed that people with bulimia nervosa belong to the two types mentioned above, as they crave the chocolate and feel guilty after that.
One theory is that women during their period crave chocolate. It is undeniable that during ovulation women’s metabolism increases and they need more energy. Although studies did not conclude that they specifically crave chocolate, any food can stimulate their appetite. There is another idea that women crave chocolate in their period, because chocolate is a magnesium rich food, unfortunately it was never proven.
Other scientists try to concentrate on the ingredients of chocolate and try to explain why it causes addiction.
One such ingredient is phenylethylamine. This compound is well known for its stimulant and psychoactive effects in the brain. As they found an increased level of phenylethylamine in women in love, the theory supposed that both chocolate and love are interchangeable and both cause addiction. The truth is a piece of 50mg chocolate contains only 0.3mg phenylethylamine. If you want to use it as a stimulant the minimum dose is 6mg. It means that we should eat 1kg (2.2lbs) of chocolate to feel its effects.
Some also tried to speculate about the caffeine found in chocolate. They say that is why people are addicted to chocolate, but it cannot be the answer either, as chocolate contains very little caffeine. The darker the chocolate the more caffeine it contains, although it cannot compete with coffee in terms of caffeine content. It should be accepted that people eat chocolate, because they find it enjoyable.
According to some researchers chocolate raises serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is known to suppress depression. If it was true, chocolate would be the easy cure for depression, and you could just eat a lot of chocolate when you are depressed. The truth is; if a food has a nutritional value of more than 5% of protein it will not raise serotonin levels. Chocolate contains 15% of protein.
In 1996 a group of researchers discovered anandamide in chocolate, it is a cannabinoid. Cannabinoids are chemical compounds that act on cannabinoid receptors. It has been found that you would need to consume 25kg (55lbs) of chocolate to get the desired effects, and – as there was no experiment conducted – it is still debated that it would get through the digestive system, intact to the blood stream.
One last theory that is worth a mention are the endorphins; and their levels affected by the consumption of chocolate. Endorphins are produced by the brain they are called “happy hormones” sometimes. They are responsible for the feeling of euphoria and to inhibit the transmission of pain signals. Endorphin is released by the brain with a consumption of every tasty meal not just chocolate. Chocolate does not contain endorphins.
So we can conclude that chocolate addiction is still not confirmed. One cannot be addicted to chocolate chemically. It can cause an addiction psychologically as every other tasty treat. The golden rule is eat responsibly and enjoy!