One more box this time not as healthy as the previous three.

I wanted to keep a style consistency in all these boxes. Everything was created in Adobe Photoshop.

I was wondering why is chocolate so addictive. I have also observed I am more prone eating while I am quite low. Here are some reasons I have come across.

What Makes Chocolate so Addictive?

There are a few theories about why chocolate is so addictive, ranging from the fairly obvious (like the idea that the sugars and fats in it keep you coming back for that sweet taste) to the unexpected. A particularly interesting theory proposed by a group of scientists who fed chocolate to rats suggests that the drug enkephalin may be key in creating so-called chocoholics. Enkephalin is a natural brain chemical, but the researchers found that levels surged unnaturally high after the rats consumed chocolate m&ms. This is significant because enkephalin triggers opioid receptors, the very same ones activated by drugs such as morphine and heroin. Basically, eating chocolate heightens your levels of enkephalin, and heightened levels of enkephalin lead you to want to eat more chocolate. In the study conducted the rats gorged themselves on about 5% of their body weight in chocolate, which is equivalent to an average human eating about three and a half kilos of m&ms! Thankfully, it seems like humans are less susceptible to enkephalin than rats, but the vicious circle of addiction is still clearly evident in many people in regards chocolate.

Does It Actually Help With Depression?

There have been many studies linking chocolate to increased levels of serotonin (a feel good chemical), and research has shown that people with depression eat almost twice the amount of chocolate as those without a diagnosis. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that chocolate functions as an antidepressant. There is no conclusive evidence that it has a positive long term effect on mental health, and it’s important to remember that though it tastes good, chocolate isn’t good for the body. Eating it to excess in order to feel better will lead to nasty consequences like obesity and heart disease, which would stack the odds against someone already trying to manage their depression. Chocolate is a nice occasional treat and as such can make you feel good, but eating it as a replacement for actual medicines is dangerous and unwise.

So to summarise, chocolate is good, but only sometimes and not too much.