Now back to reality.
Posted on 12/11/2007 3:17:47 PM PST by blam
Chocolate Is The Most Widely Craved Food, But Is It Really Addictive?
ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2007) — Chocolate is the most widely and frequently craved food. People readily admit to being 'addicted to chocolate' or willingly label themselves as 'chocoholics'. A popular explanation for this is that chocolate contains mood-enhancing (psychoactive) ingredients that give it special appeal.
Polyphenol antioxidant Evidence and logic, however, find little support for this. Substances present in chocolate which have been highlighted as potentially pharmacologically significant include serotonin, tryptophan, phenylethylamine, tyramine and cannabinoids. However, many of these compounds exist in higher concentrations in other foods with less appeal than chocolate.
Professor Peter Rogers, from the University of Bristol, UK, explains: "A more compelling explanation lies in our ambivalent attitudes towards chocolate -- it is highly desired but should be eaten with restraint (nice but naughty). Our unfulfilled desire to eat chocolate, resulting from restraint, is thus experienced as craving, which in turn is attributed to 'addiction'."
A further observation is that the most widely preferred chocolate is milk chocolate and chocolate-covered confectionery. These contain a lower amount of cocoa solids, and therefore a lower concentration of potentially psychoactive compounds, than 'dark' chocolate which is not so widely craved.
It is therefore far more plausible to suggest that a liking for chocolate, and its effects on mood, are due mainly to its principal constituents, sugar and fat, and their related orosensory and nutritional effects.
The evidence as to whether chocolate can really become addictive is examined by Professor Peter Rogers from the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Uk.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Bristol.
“Sorry. I’ve always had a sweet tooth. ;-)”
I assumed that’s all there was to it! ;)
That’s me in the picture, you know.
Now back to reality.
Oh my gosh, what fun! LOL!
“Chocolate Makes Life Worth Living!”
Oh yes...it does! (Love the pic!)
But wouldn’t it be even more wonderful if it would cause one to lose weight?
ROFLMAO!!
Think she’ll get caught?
For $2,600 per pound, it better be good.
A little whipped cream and hubba-hubba!
Really? Well then, thanks for whetting my appetite.
“Really? Well then, thanks for whetting my appetite.”
LOL!
Thanks for the self portrait!
Its nice to see fellow FReepers, even in a glamour shot.
;’)
Thank you!
As you can see, it is true that chocolate is good for blood flow.
(ducking as wife swats me)
Wife should be thankful for a robust Texas Booster!
Cradle of Chocolate?[A]rchaeologists from Cornell University and the University of California at Berkeley have found evidence of a village that was continuously occupied from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 1000 as well as hints to the secret of the community's remarkable longevity.
Roger Segelken
Oct. 8, 1998
Cornell News Service
"My guess is, it all comes down to chocolate," says John S. Henderson, professor of anthropology at Cornell and co-director, together with Rosemary Joyce of Berkeley, of the archaeological dig at Puerto Escondido, Honduras. The type of ceremonial pottery uncovered by the archaeologists points to that region of Mesoamerica as a possible "Cradle of Chocolate."
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