Chocolate – Depression association a myth (original) (raw)
2020, Santosh journal of health sciences
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Mood state effects of chocolate
Journal of Affective Disorders, 2006
Chocolate consumption has long been associated with enjoyment and pleasure. Popular claims confer on chocolate the properties of being a stimulant, relaxant, euphoriant, aphrodisiac, tonic and antidepressant. The last claim stimulated this review. We review chocolate's properties and the principal hypotheses addressing its claimed mood altering propensities. We distinguish between food craving and emotional eating, consider their psycho-physiological underpinnings, and examine the likely 'positioning' of any effect of chocolate to each concept. Chocolate can provide its own hedonistic reward by satisfying cravings but, when consumed as a comfort eating or emotional eating strategy, is more likely to be associated with prolongation rather than cessation of a dysphoric mood. This review focuses primarily on clarifying the possibility that, for some people, chocolate consumption may act as an antidepressant self-medication strategy and the processes by which this may occur. Any mood benefits of chocolate consumption are ephemeral.
Printed in U.S.A. Sweets, Chocolate, and Atypical Depressive Traits
2016
An original questionnaire, the Foods and Moods Inventory (FMI) was used to investigate appetite for sweets and chocolate and its relationship to dysphoric mood. The FMI was administered to a group of subjects with an identified interest in chocolate (chocolate group, N = 73), a comparison sample (comparison group, N = 172), and a sample of former alcoholics (iV = 22). Those who reported “self-medicating ” with sweets or chocolate were more likely to have personality traits associated with hysteroid dysphoria, an atypical depressive syndrome. In addition, the tendency to eat compulsively, in general, and appetite for sweets and chocolate, in particular, were significantly greater among women. Informal observation suggests that cravings for sweets and/or chocolate are commonplace phenom ena. At least one component of this appetite for sweets may be mood related; people apparently eat sweets and chocolate specifically in response to dysphoric mood states. A link between cravings for sw...
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