The Effect of Chocolate on Your Brain

 Chocolate candy bars, brownies, chocolate milk, truffles, after-dinner mints, chocolate chip cookies - if it contains chocolate, we love it! Whether it's hot or cold, liquid or solid, it seems that the world just can't get enough chocolate!

Where Do Chocolate Cravings Come From?

Undoubtedly, many people can relate to a time when they experienced an almost uncontrollable craving for something sweet and chocolaty. We even have a word for people who frequently experience this - a chocoholic. Due to this being such a widespread phenomenon, scientists have decided to analyze the contents of chocolate and find out just why it seems to make us so happy. They discovered that chocolate contains around 380 distinct chemicals, which is why it's so hard to pin down which combination makes chocolate so magical. That's why further study was required to pin down the connection between the chemicals contained within chocolate and the functioning of the human nervous system. 

 

The Relationship Between Chocolate & the Nervous System

 

One researcher at the University of Michigan, Adam Drewnowski decided to discover whether consuming chocolate causes opioids to be produced in the human body. Opioids, named after opium, are chemicals that are known to instill a person with a sense of euphoria. The results of his experiments show that chocolate does indeed cause the brain to naturally produce opioids, and if the brain's opioid receptors become blocked, then the chance of binging on chocolate naturally decreases. 

 

 Emmanuelle diTomaso and Daniele Piomelli, former researchers at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego looked into chocolate's chemical components and found that it contains at least three substances that "could act as cannabinoid mimics either directly (by activating cannabinoid receptors) or indirectly (by increasing anandamide levels)." A cannabinoid is something that has a similar effect to cannabis, also known as marijuana. In fact, the high that results from smoking or ingesting marijuana is mainly due to a cannabinoid called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) temporarily binding to THC receptors in the human brain. Curiously, these researchers found that chocolate contains a chemical called anandamide, which binds to the same THC receptors as cannabis, and may result in a similar effect to a marijuana high. However, this chemical is far more common in dark chocolate than milk chocolate since it contains a much greater amount of cacao.

The reason why chocolate doesn't normally get you as high as marijuana does (and the reason behind why it's legal practically everywhere) is explained by Christian Felder from the National Institute of Mental Health. When compared to the THC in marijuana, anandamide and other cannabinoids in chocolate produce a much weaker effect and stick around in the body for an even shorter time. In fact, Felder estimates that it would take around 25 pounds of chocolate for a 130-pound man to receive a marijuana-like effect. But even though eating chocolate usually doesn't get people to experience a high, it still seems like it contains enough brain-stimulating chemicals to make us feel a little happy and get a little addicted. 

 

Apart from all of this, chocolate also contains a chemical that's closely related to amphetamines, known as phenylethylamine. Much like amphetamines, phenylethylamine causes blood sugar and blood pressure levels to rise, often resulting in feelings of satisfaction and alertness, and that's exactly why it's often been nicknamed the 'love drug.' While there's still a lot of research that needs to be done on many of the other substances found within chocolate, there's one thing that we can all agree on - life is sweeter with a box of chocolates!

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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