Why do we love chocolate?

WHY does chocolate make us feel good? Why do we love it so much? Why does chocolate taste so good?

Apparently, chocolate has 380 known chemicals; therefore it’s really hard to say exactly which ones make us feel happy. Adam Drewnowski at UMich researched the production of opioids in chocolate consumption, which induce a feeling of euphoria and dulls pain. According to Drewnowski, if opioid receptors are blocked, chocolate consumption decreases.

There are three substances in chocolate identified that can“act as cannabinoid mimics either directly (by activating cannabinoid receptors) or indirectly (by increasing anadamide levels).” Anadamine is a lipid that is normally found in the brain; it can bind to the same receptors as THC and produce a similar feeling as “being high” on marijuana. There are chemicals in chocolate that act like THC and trigger dopamine releases. Additional research indicates that there are two chemicals in chocolate that inhibit the breakdown of anandamide, which, usually, without the help of chocolate, breaks down quickly. Thus, on a tiny scale, we can "get high" on chocolate.

So should chocolate be illegal? After all, people could become addicted to it and gorging on chocolate may very well induce a chocolate coma. Whereas THC activates many receptors throughout the brain, chocolate’s effect is more limited because anandamide and the other two compounds are found in more localized areas. In fact, the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that a 130-pound person would have to eat 25 pounds of chocolate at one time to get any marijuana-like effect. Chocolate also contains phenylethylamine, a chemical related to amphetamines, which can cause blood pressure and blood sugar levels to rise, which can also increase alertness and contentment.

In this era, however, chocolate produces more complex feelings than we would have expected. Alongside the feel-good dopamine effects, chocolate has also been known to cause feelings of guilt, which detracts from the positive emotional effects. According to Macht, in “Everyday mood and emotions after eating a chocolate bar or an apple,” these emotions are probably due to negative food-related cognitions. For most cases, participants who ate the chocolate felt a more significant mood improvement than just eating the apple alone. However, the limitation of the study was that the caloric difference and macronutrient content of the apple and chocolate were different. There are complex variables to be studied on chocolate and mood affection.

These studies have not addressed the fat and sugar combination, which has found to be so addicting in almost 30 studies done in the US in the year of 2010. According to Abraham’s article, some scientists have found that when shown pictures of their favorite high fat/sugar foods, compulsive overeaters experienced a surge of dopamine in their orbital frontal cortex, the same area that lights up when cocaine addicts are shown a bag of white powder. Thus perhaps it’s the high sugar and fat content in chocolate that makes it so addicting.

No matter whether it’s the macronutrient makeup or the 380 chemicals that may have to do with it, chocolate has become our guilty pleasures. I guess I never understood how my high school friend, Bonnie, always managed to get such good grades, but she always ate a piece of chocolate right before exams. Perhaps she had done research on how phenylethylamine could have increased her alertness.


Works Cited
Abraham, Tamara. (2011). Are cupcakes as addictive as cocaine? How high-sugar processed food can have same effect on the brain as drugs. dailymail.co.uk.

Kuwana, Ellen. (2010). Discovering the Sweet Mysteries of Chocolate. Neuroscience For Kids. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/choco.html

Macht, Michael & Dettme, Dorothee. (2006). Everyday mood and emotions after eating a chocolate bar or an apple. Appetite, Vol 46, Issue 3. Pages 332-336.

—Side note—

In my research I also came across a study of scented chocolate lotion and chocolate consumption. There have been dieters in the past who’ve said to “sniff” a certain food and stop craving it, but the study showed that those who wore the lotion ate more chocolate chip cookies when given the opportunity! So if you’re trying to curb your chocolate addictions, it’s better to stay away from constant stimulation…