Dark Chocolate and Depression, Are They Related?
Chocolate, the ultimate temptation, the
guilty pleasure we all, big or small, indulge in from time to time. But
is chocolate really that bad for us? According to medical research, the
jury is still out on chocolate, with some recent research drawing a
correlation between depression and chocolate, suggesting that dark
chocolate may actually be beneficial for depressed individuals. Why is
that, are we all just big kids, our eyes lighting up immediately after
seeing the sweet treat, or is there something more to the story?
Is Chocolate Healthy or Not?
Chocolate is one of those foods that the
vast majority of people like. We enjoy our chocolate pure, melted, or as
an ingredient in many desserts, such as ice cream, brownies, chocolate
chip cookies, and countless more… Some of us love our chocolate dark,
while others fancy milk chocolate or even white chocolate, which isn’t
chocolate at all. In fact, we love chocolate so much that all this
chocolate talk has got my stomach rumbling, and I know I’m not alone.
Still, we typically try to have the tasty treat in moderation, as we’re
told that it’s bad for our health and contains way too much sugar, which
can hurt our teeth, cause acne and be bad for our brains, digestive
organs and cardiovascular system. From time to time, a new reassuring
research article pops up, claiming that chocolate is actually beneficial
for our health, after all, which creates a great deal of confusion.
The one mutual conclusion in the research is that dark chocolate is much
better for us that milk chocolate, as it contains a lot less sugar and
additives and is more concentrated in antioxidants and other active
beneficial ingredients.
How Exactly Can Dark Chocolate Benefit My
Health?
Dark chocolate has several health benefits, namely an anti-inflammatory
effect, as well as a favorable effect on our cardiovascular system and
skin. Still, the largest evidence base for the beneficial effects of
dark chocolate is in the realm of mental health, with numerous studies
arguing the treat has mood-boosting and anti-stress properties.
Continuing this tendency is a large UK-based survey study that made a
bold conclusion: one’s risks of being depressed are cut by more than
half if you eat a lot of dark chocolate. The study processed surveys
from 13.626 adult participants of a mean age of 46 years, who reported
twice on their history of depressive symptoms, chocolate-eating habits
and countless other variables that were used to exclude any confounds of
the study.
The study concluded that the participants
who ate more than 104 g (3.6 oz) of dark chocolate a day had a 57% lower
chance of experiencing depressive symptoms than those who didn’t eat
any chocolate at all. The authors list several reasons why dark
chocolate may be so beneficial to depression sufferers:
1. Chocolate has several psychoactive ingredients that may make a person
experience pleasure. Most notably, it’s rich in phenylethylamine, a
neuromodulator that may play a role in regulating our mood and its lack
has been implicated as a contributor to depression.
2. As a tasty treat, chocolate may activate the reward system in our
brain and improve our mood through increasing the level of dopamine,
serotonin and endorphins in the brain. Abnormal levels of these
neurotransmitters are believed to be among the leading causes of
depression, and so, for people suffering from deficiency, chocolate may
serve to raise their levels of neurotransmitters.
3. The rich antioxidant profile of dark
chocolate may have an anti-inflammatory effect on the body.
Inflammation, in turn, has been found to contribute to depression.
The authors don’t exclude that a few factors may contribute to the
positive impact of chocolate on depression, too. Should you run out to
the store to buy some dark chocolate and start eating it every day,
then? Probably not, as the authors of the study do point out that the
number of participants that ate moderate and low amounts of dark
chocolate was lacking, and the participants that did eat dark chocolate
mainly ate it in excessive quantities.
Apart from that, the study relied on self-reported data, which should
always be taken with a grain of salt. Thus, we still recommend eating
moderate amounts of dark chocolate, even if you need an emergency mood
lift. The good news is, however, that dark chocolate is not the enemy
it’s often made out to be, so we can indulge our chocolate craving
without the guilt from time to time.