Resistance is futile. The more we try to fight off
a craving for chocolate, the more our desire for it grows, a
British researcher has said.
But chocoholics can take heart that such sweets are
not addictive despite the fact many people consider themselves as
having no control over their urges to eat the sweets, said Peter
Rogers, a psychologist at the University of Bristol.
"Food behaviour can look like addictive behaviour
in extreme situations but chocolate does not fit these criteria,"
Rogers told a meeting sponsored by the British Association for the
Advancement of Science.
Many people point to certain compounds found in chocolate – such
as phenylethylamine – that produce a buzz when they reach the brain
as evidence chocolate is addictive, Rogers said.
But many of these compounds also exist in higher concentrations
in other foods with less appeal, such as avocados or cheese, and do
not cause addiction despite what many chocoholics believe, he
said.
Instead, a social attitude that chocolate is "naughty but nice"
may actually drive people to see chocolate as a forbidden pleasure
and desire it even more, Rogers said.
"In other words, chocolate is a highly desirable food, but which
according to social norms should be eaten with restraint," he said.
"However, attempting to resist the desire to eat chocolate only
causes thoughts about chocolate to become more prominent,
consequently heightening the desire."
Other studies have suggested that dark chocolate contains more
of the beneficial compounds linked with heart health, though
experts note that the high sugar and fat content of most chocolate
candy might cancel out some of the benefits.
But even health benefits do not make dark chocolate as popular
as milk chocolate and chocolate covered confectionary, Rogers said
further research has shown.
And the fact these favoured choices contain lower amounts of the
so-called psychoactive compounds found in dark chocolate provides
more evidence chocolate is not addictive, he said.
"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," he said in a statement.
(China Daily via Reuters September 12, 2007)