I was in a supremely rotten mood on Saturday. I went for a run, took a nap, and when neither really pulled me out of my funk, I had a little chocolate. (Okay … maybe more than a little). And instead of feeling guilty afterwards, I actually felt better.
Turns out my appetite was on to something: recent research shows that chocolate thwarts bad mood brain chemicals. Swiss researchers asked stressed out people to eat 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate daily for two weeks and discovered that afterwards, they had lower levels of cortisol and catecholamines–two potent stress hormones that can make you feel, well, pretty crappy.
A few caveats. If you want the results the Swiss research subjects had, you have to eat chocolate daily. (I know: tough job). But slightly more problematic, 1.4 ounces of chocolate is not a small amount–it’s nearly half a chocolate bar, which will easily run you a good 200 calories and 15+ grams of fat–enough to put on pounds in very short order if you don’t budget for it in your daily calorie allotment. Personally, I don’t eat that much, although I do have some almost daily; usually a bite of Green & Black’s Espresso bar or a few Ghiradelli 60% cacoa bittersweet chocolate chips after dinner.
On a related note, I just stumbled on a a study suggesting my daily indulgence may be as much addiction as habit: Italian researchers found that previously-starved mice who were fed eat chocolate became so dependent on it that they were willing to endure mild electric shocks to get their sweet treat. Grisly, but humans aren’t much better off. Chocolate rates the number-one craved food throughout the Western world, and researchers say that many of us are legitimately addicted. Let’s hope the truly hooked are at least happier for it.
-Camille
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Camille
