"Feel Good" Food

One of the most pleasant effects of eating chocolate is the "good feeling" that many people experience after indulging. Chocolate contains more than 300 known chemicals. Scientists have been working on isolating specific chemicals and chemical combinations which may explain some of the pleasurable effects of consuming chocolate.

Caffeine is the most well known of these chemical ingredients, and while it's present in chocolate, it can only be found in small quantities. Theobromine, a weak stimulant, is also present, in slightly higher amounts. The combination of these two chemicals (and possibly others) may provide the "lift" that chocolate eaters experience.

Phenylethylamine is also found in chocolate. It's related to amphetamines, which are strong stimulants. All of these stimulants increase the activity of neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) in parts of the brain that control our ability to pay attention and stay alert.

While stimulants contribute to a temporary sense of well-being, there are other chemicals and other theories as to why chocolate makes us feel good. Perhaps the most controversial findings come from researchers at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, California. They believe that "chocolate contains pharmacologically active substances that have the same effect on the brain as marijuana, and that these chemicals may be responsible for certain drug-induced psychoses associated with chocolate craving." We talked to Emmanuelle diTomaso, who worked on the original study in San Diego (she's now a researcher at Harvard), and to Daniel Piomelli, who heads the project and continues to do research at the Neurosciences Institute.

How does this work? Brain cells have a receptor for THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which is the active ingredient in marijuana. A receptor is a structure on the surface of a cell that can lock onto certain molecules, making it possible to carry a signal through the cell wall. (diTomaso described it as a "lock-and-key" system.) "The active compound," she told me, "will lock itself to the protein on the membrane of the cell, and that triggers a reaction inside the cell." In the case of THC, that chemical reaction is what would make someone feel "high."

THC, however, is not found in chocolate. Instead, another chemical, a neurotransmitter called anandamide, has been isolated in chocolate. Interestingly, anandamide is also produced naturally in the brain. Both diTomaso and Piomelli went to great lengths to explain that this finding doesn't mean that eating chocolate will get you high, but rather that there are compounds in chocolate that may be associated with the good feeling that chocolate consumption provides.

Still, the research results made for great newspaper headlines. In 1996, when Piomelli's first study was published and "picked up" by the press, he received a number a phone calls and visits from representatives of the major chocolate companies. "They were worried," he said, "that they would have to put a warning from the Surgeon General on their products."

Anandamide, like other neurotransmitters, is broken down quickly after it's produced. Piomelli and his team found other chemicals in chocolate which may inhibit the natural breakdown of anadamide. This means that natural anandamide (or introduced anandamide) may stick around longer, making us feel good longer, when we eat chocolate.

I`ve voted `no` simply because whilst I happily admit to liking the taste of certain chocolates, I wouldn`t really say it makes me feel good (in fact too much is sickly).

Apparently dark chocolate is less fattening than milk choccy though.

I voted yes cause I love chocolates and it makes me feel good. Esp milk chocolate is something like my drug. Chocolate contains tryptophan that the brain uses to make a neurotransmitter seretonin and I really think that chocolate is a psychoactive food and also it is yummy.

I like nuts in mine too.