- Chocolate is healthy! -

Chocolate can strengthen the immune system: scientists have discovered that just the aroma of chocolate stimulates the production of secretory immunoglobulin A – an important component of the body’s antiviral defense. So it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise to researchers at the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College, London, to discover that chocolate could be more effective in treating coughs than traditional cough medicines.

Chocolate cough medicine. Why not? In tests on healthy non-smokers, it was found that giving theobromine (a compound found in chocolate) to ease artificially-induced coughs was more effective than codeine, which is traditionally used in cough
medicines.

Here comes the science Whether chocolate will ever come full circle and be prescribed as medicine again, as it was more than 200 years ago, remains to be seen. Nutrition researcher, Michael Levine, said, “Chemically speaking, chocolate
really is the world’s perfect food." Analyze a cocoa bean and you’ll find that it is 50% fat, 20-25% carbohydrate, 5% water, 1.5 % theobromine (mild caffeine-like stimulant), tyramine (has an action similar to adrenaline) and 3.5% minerals and vitamins; these include: potassium, copper, calcium, iron, magnesium, sodium, phosphorous, vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. Yes chocolate could be considered nature’s multi-vitamin tablet.

Facts and figures:
It's interesting to note that of the vast variety of foods available to the human race, the food identified as being by far the most craved, is chocolate. Unsurprisingly therefore the terms 'chocolate addiction' and 'chocoholic' have been bandied about since the '80s but 'pizzaholic' or 'banana addict' haven't really caught on.

"Man cannot live by chocolate alone - but woman can." (Unknown)

More women than men experience food cravings in general while chocolate craving in particular is more than double in women. Such were the findings of a survey of 1,000 students at McMaster University, Canada which found that 97% of the female students experienced food cravings compared to only 68% of the men. 39% of the women craved chocolate in particular as opposed to only 14% of the men.

Chocolate craving is very specific, when the desire for chocolate arises, the urge will not be satisfied by another sweet food, there is no substitute, only chocolate will do.

The average American eats approximately 9kg of chocolate a year, that's about 3 bars a week. But how much do you eat if you're a chocolate craver?

Well, in a study of 75 self-confessed 'chocolate addicts' in San Francisco, it was calculated that the average number of chocolate bars consumed by each in one week was 12 1/2 , though one addict admitted to getting through 70.

So what is it about chocolate that makes it irresistible? That makes it the most craved food on the planet?

Well chocolate brings instant comfort, acts as an anti-depressant and gives us that unmistakable 'chocolate high' as our serotonin and endorphin levels rise."Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana... The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two, but can't remember what they are." (Matt Lauer on NBC's 'Today Show' 1996)

Chocolate contains some chemicals in common with cannabis. Anandamide, N-oleoylethanolamine and
N-lineoeoylethanolamine are all natural cannabinoids found in chocolate. While you un-tangle your tongue ... chocolate contains a host of other natural chemicals such as caffeine and phenylethylamine (PEA) which both have a mild amphetamine-like effect. PEA is also produced naturally by the brain in certain emotional states, such as when we are in love.

The real deal:

"The problem is that PEA present in food doesn't even reach the blood, let alone the brain" according to
psychopharmacologist Dr M. Liebowitz in 'The Chemistry of Love'.

This suggests that the reality of chocolate addiction may lie not only in the measurable levels of certain chemicals in chocolate but also in the un-measurable social and mental association of chocolate with reward, comfort, luxury and sensuousness. Additionally, as a carbohydrate, eating chocolate triggers the release of the calming neurotransmitter serotonin while at the same time the caffeine gently stimulates.

The dual action of simultaneously soothing and stimulating seems contradictory yet is strangely complimentary and only adds to the mystery of how chocolate does indeed work on the body and the brain in a way that cannot be so easily or neatly explained with references to brain chemicals or the constituent elements of chocolate.