Chocolate- An Addiction Or Antidepressant
The name itself may make your mouth water. Nobody can negotiate the fact of taste of our awesome chocolate. Be it in any form, from cakes to chocolate bars, we all love it. Some even get addicted. Silly but true.
Chocolate- The Love Drug
One of the most widely offered valentine’s gift is chocolate. Chocolate is a complex material that has compounds which acts upon the brain, producing a sense of delight, in other words makes you feel relaxed. And this feeling is not found in any other substance yet.
Chocoholic- The Another Form Of Addiction
Besides being alcoholic, addiction towards chocolate is termed as chocoholic. A chocoholic is a person who craves or compulsively eats chocolates. Many medical evidences do support this concept. However, this addiction wont let you lose anything like being alcoholic does.
Chocoholism is quite common. In the studies of food cravings, chocolate and other types of chocolate sweets are almost the top list of foods people say they crave for. Studies say that craving towards any food is related to sugar and fat, and as chocolates contains both of this, it is often considered a subject to addiction.
The Anti-Depressant
Researchers have found that people who are suffering from stress and depression problems, can cure them to major extends with the help of chocolates. Chocolates can make such people less anxious and less irritable.
When in stress, most of us crave for sweet. Eating is a good habit to avoid stress. As hormone levels change, the body attempts to raise levels of good-feel hormone known as SEROTONIN, and since sugar triggers a serotonin release, this can cause you to crave sweet things. But sugar only makes things worse, leaving you tired, irritable and miserable.
This is why many doctors prescribe dark chocolate that contains less or no sugar.
Inside Chocolate
Chocolates were originally grown in the tropical rainforests of central and south America around 1500 years ago.
Before chocolate became sweet candy, it was used as a bitter and spicy drink. The source of chocolate is the cocoa bean also called as “CACAO BEAN”. Cocoa beans are dried and then converted into bars.
Chocolate contains several compounds that affect brain deeply. The compounds include:
- ANANDAMIDE- A neurotransmitter involved in regulating moods.
- THEOBROMINE- Affects human similarly equally as CAFFIENE, but on a much smaller amounts.
- PHENYLETHYLAMINE- Promotes feelings of attraction, excitement, giddiness and apprehension. Also treats high blood pressure.
- TETRAHYRO-BETA-CARBOLINEs- Found in beer, wine and liquor, but highly non-toxic.
- EPICATE-CHIN(Flavanoids)- Anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and anti-cancer properties. Such antioxidants are found in wine and green tea.
- TRYPTOPHAN- A chemical used by brain to make SEROTONIN, that can produce feelings of happiness and even ecstasy.
Negative Impacts Of Chocolate:
Things when are consumed in more quantities are always bad for health. Similarly, chocolates, if taken more than what your body is able to tolerate, can surely cause problems, not only to humans but to animals also.
- Heart Diseases And Weight Gain– Reviews say that a short term effect of lowering blood pressure by consuming cocoa products. Saturated fat content in chocolates elevates blood cholesterol, putting you at a risk of heart diseases and stroke along with weight gain.
- Gastroesophageal Reflux– A condition in which the stomach contents come back to your esophagus, resulting in heartburn. Chocolate causes your lower esophageal sphincter to relax, which enables the stomach contents to travel back upward, giving a burning sensation behind chest.
- Acne– One preliminary test concluded that in males who are prone to acne, eating chocolate increases the severity of acne. Various study point not to chocolate, but to the high glycemic nature of certain foods, like sugar and other carbohydrates, as a major cause of acne.
- Effects Of Caffeine– Eating too much of caffeine-containing foods, a person may experience rapid heart beat anxiety, depression, restlessness, sleep problems, tremors, nausea and vomiting according to Medline Plus. Dark chocolate contains high amount of caffeine, therefore it is usually mixed with other products like milk.
- Harmful to Dogs– Chocolates can kill dogs, as it contains theobromine, which affects their heart and nervous systems. Dogs and other such animals like horses and cats, cannot metabolize theobromine as quickly as humans can; this causes the above effects to be much more severe than is the case with humans.
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