Hmmm......... yum You weak minded Fools!!!!

Mood state effects of chocolate

Gordon Parker^{a, ,} , Isabella Parker^b and Heather Brotchie<sup>b

a</sup>School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia
^bBlack Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia

Received 22 September 2005;  revised 2 February 2006;  accepted 3 February 2006.  Available online 20 March 2006.

Abstract

Background

Chocolate consumption has long been associated with enjoyment and pleasure. Popular claims confer on chocolate the properties of being a stimulant, relaxant, euphoriant, aphrodisiac, tonic and antidepressant. The last claim stimulated this review.

 

2.2. Chocolate craving

Chocolate is the most commonly craved food and, for most chocolate cravers, non-chocolate substitutes are inadequate (Weingarten and Elston, 1991). Chocolate is not a natural product, and thus its appeal depends on its individual constituents and their unique combination. Chocolate is sweet, raising the possibility of confusion between chocolate craving and sweet craving, but it also contains fat (Rozin et al., 1991). Similarly, other foods that are commonly craved (e.g., ice cream, doughnuts, cakes, biscuits) also taste sweet and might be misjudged as rich in sugar, but most of their calories are provided by fat. Drewnowski et al. (1992) have therefore suggested that the term ‘carbohydrate craving’ is a misnomer when applied to such foods.

2.3. Psychoactive properties of chocolate

Because chocolate craving has some features of addiction, attempts have been made to identify any psychoactive ingredients. Several candidates have been identified (the biogenic stimulant amines caffeine, theobromine, tyramine and phenylethylamine), but their concentrations are too low to have a significant psychoactive effect and they are also present in higher concentrations in non-craved foods (British Nutrition Foundation., 1998, Hetherington and Macdiarmid, 1993, Hurst et al., 1982, Rozin et al., 1991, Weingarten and Elston, 1991 and Ottley, 2000).

Comparisons of subjects ingesting milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate and cocoa powder (powdered cocoa mass with some cocoa butter extracted) have demonstrated that milk chocolate is most preferred. If psychoactive substances were involved, then cocoa powder should equally satisfy craving and dark chocolate should be the most preferred (Michener and Rozin, 1994).

Chocolate contains two analogues of anandamine similar to the cannabinoid responsible for euphoria from cannabis. However, any association with pleasure from chocolate is likely to be indirect as the analogues inhibit breakdown of endogenously produced anandamine (di Tomaso et al., 1996).