Not Too Technical!
'Nature' magazine recently featured an article in which they told of chocolate traces being found in ancient Mayan pots dating back to 600BC by the laboratories at Hershey foods in the USA. A study commissioned by Cadbury foods found that this food has the same effect on the brain as falling in love. Is it any wonder that Aztecs worshipped it? The name of the 'Theobroma cacao' tree from whose seeds chocolate is made literally means 'divine snack'. Aztecs and Mayans prized these seeds so much that were used as currency and their god Quezacoatal was, among other things, given the title of 'Chocolate-protector-on high'. It was they who began crushing the beans and boiling them in water to create a drink.

In most parts of the world chocolate is associated with romance, and not without with good reason. It was viewed as an aphrodisiac by the Aztec's who thought it invigorated men and made women less inhibited. So when it was first introduced to Europe, it was only natural that chocolate quickly became the ideal gift for a woman to receive from an admirer or a loved one, and of course, vice versa. The first to associate chocolate with sex were the Aztecs and Mayans - Aztec ruler Montezuma had a harem of 600 beauties and often drank as many as 50 cups of chocolate to better serve them! Casanova ate chocolates to feel romantic and Madame DuBarry served them to her enamoured suitors by the dozen. Not only does chocolate contain caffeine (which is a stimulant), it also has phenyl ethylamine, the chemical released in the blood of those in love. In Greece the name for chocolate is 'food of the gods' and few would disagree that there is something angelic about it even if it does have a darker side

The beauty of chocolate really is the temperature at which it melts. At 36 degrees C it's only one degree less than body temperature. That's why it melts so slowly in the mouth and also the reason that it can be stacked safely on the market shelves. The real question parents ask is just how good or bad the stuff really is from a health perspective. Most chocolate bars today average around 35% content of cocoa but experts seem to agree that the more cocoa butter there is in there the better it is for you. 70% content bars will be very dark and bitter but studies have shown that that they contain chemicals called Flavonols that lower blood pressure and thus reduce the risk of hear disease or unwanted clotting as in the Deep Vein Thrombosis experienced by some air travellers.

Chocolate is thought also to boost production of 'mood' chemicals like Seratonin and Dopamine, which produce short but intense feelings of genuine well being. It's as well to remember too that the things in chocolate that are fattening are the additives used to sweeten it and not the cocoa butter itself. Acne is definitely not a direct result of eating chocolate. It seems clear that there are definite medical benefits to be gained from eating chocolate because it genuinely does make you feel good naturally. No doubt that simple fact is what led to so many stories appearing about its potential as an aphrodisiac. If you feel good about yourself then your sexual performance will reflect that and what more proof could you then need? Like so much else in life that has a tried and tested history going back over thousands of years, cocoa has gained a reputation that it thoroughly deserves. Eating chocolate in moderation is not only a boost to your health but a great way of feeling good. You only need a little to feel extremely satisfied and in that mood anything becomes possible. Love and chocolate seem to go hand in hand. Is it any wonder?

Getting Very Technical!
Is chocolate really an aphrodisiac?
The Aztecs referred to chocolate "nourishment of the Gods". Chocolate contains chemicals thought to effect neurotransmitters in the brain and a related substance to caffeine called theobromine. Chocolate contains more antioxidant (cancer preventing enzymes) than does red wine. Cocoa has a high food value, containing as much as 20 percent protein, 40 percent carbohydrate, and 40 percent fat. It is also mildly stimulating because of the presence of theobromine, an alkaloid that is closely related to caffeine.

On romantic occasions, the most popular gift exchanged between lovers is a box of chocolates. Even the ancient Aztecs and Mayans (circa 600 AD) of South America loved it. There some very good reasons why. Chocoholics are beginning to understand the secret behind the amorous inclination we have for these brown and white treats. Two doctors, Donald Klein and Michael Leibowitz, made a theory suggesting that chocolate contains a particular chemical called phenylethylamine (better known as the "love chemical"), which is also present in the brain. Phenylethylamine, is an amphetamine-like substance, and the chemical produced in the brain of people who are evidently in the state of love. Love struck persons produce more of this chemical than people who are not. Initially, Dr. Klein and Dr. Leibowitz joked about the idea of chocolate being an arbiter for people who are in love. They then tried to prove their theory but were unable to finish their experiments. Later, however, other scientists followed suit but were also unsuccessful to find out if chocolate really had any love-potion abilities. One study revealed that intake of chocolate did not actually increase the level of phenylethylamine in the body, thus ruling out chocolate as responsible for that certain wonderful high.

By nature, however, phenylethylamine is a naturally-occurring trace chemical known to release a certain kind of dopamine in the "pleasure-centres" of the brain. Unfortunately, one of the metabolites phenylethylamine produces also causes a person to become unusually restive. Overproduction of this chemical is found in people suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Moreover, further studies showed that chocolate was mildly addictive, due mainly to its caffeine content. It also contains small quantities of the chemical anandamide, and endogenous cannabinoid found also in the brain. Aside from these chemicals, chocolate also has a substantial amount of tryptophan, an important amino acid that controls the production of the mood-modulating serotonin.

Probably the most distinctive "side-effect" of eating chocolate is that it releases endorphines, the body's own endogenous opiates. The production of endorphins consequently give chocolate addicts that co-called "inner glow" about them (which explains why many chocolate lovers seem to be so gloriously alive). To top it all, however, science has yet to prove chocolate's efficacy as an aphrodisiac. While some doctors say that phenylethylamine in chocolate is just a mild love-chemical, the debate is still ongoing and it is still too early to know if chocolate really is the lovers' delight. Then again, maybe giving your special someone a box of chocolates wouldn't hurt a bit, maybe even beneficial. It's worth a try.

What's in Chocolate?
Chocolate contains small quantities of anandamide, an endogenous cannabinoid found in the brain. Sceptics claim one would need to consume several pounds of chocolate to gain any very noticeable effects; and eat a lot more to get fully stoned. Yet it's worth noting that N-oleolethanolamine and N-linoleoylethanolamine, two structural cousins of anandamide present in chocolate, both inhibit the metabolism of anandamide. It has been speculated that they promote and prolong the feeling of well-being that anandamide can induce. Chocolate contains caffeine. But the caffeine is present only in modest quantities. It is easily obtained from other sources. Chocolate's theobromine content may contribute to - but seems unlikely to determine - its subtle but distinctive profile. Chocolate also contains tryptophan. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid. It is the rate-limiting step in the production of the mood-modulating neurotransmitter serotonin. Enhanced serotonin function typically diminishes anxiety. Yet tryptophan can normally be obtained from other sources as well. Like other palatable sweet foods, consumption of chocolate causes the release of endorphins, the body's endogenous opiates. Enhanced endorphin-release reduces the chocolate-eater's sensitivity to pain. Endorphins probably contribute to the warm inner glow induced in susceptible chocoholics.

Acute monthly cravings for chocolate amongst pre-menstrual women may be partly explained by its rich magnesium content. Magnesium deficiency exacerbates PMT. Before menstruation, too, levels of the hormone progesterone are high. Progesterone promotes fat storage, preventing its use as fuel; and thus elevated pre-menstrual levels of progesterone may cause a periodic craving for fatty foods. One study reported that 91% of chocolate-cravings associated with the menstrual cycle occurred between ovulation and the start of menstruation. Chocolate cravings are admitted by 15% of men and around 40% of women. Cravings are usually most intense in the late afternoon and early evening.

Perhaps chocolate's key ingredient is its phenylethylamine "love-chemical". Yet the role of the "chocolate amphetamine" is disputed. Most if not all chocolate-derived phenylethylamine is metabolised before it reaches the CNS. Some people may be sensitive to its effects in very small quantities. Phenylethylamine is itself a naturally occurring trace amine in the brain. Phenylethylamine releases mesolimbic dopamine in the pleasure-centres. It peaks during orgasm. Taken in unnaturally high doses, phenylethylamine can produce stereotyped behaviour more prominently even than amphetamine. Phenylethylamine has distinct binding sites but no specific neurons. It helps mediate feelings of attraction, excitement, giddiness, apprehension and euphoria. One of its metabolites is unusually high in subjects with paranoid schizophrenia.

There is even a phenylethylamine theory of depression. Monoamine oxidase type-b has been described as phenylethylaminase; and taking an selective MAO-b inhibitor, selegiline (l-deprenyl), can accentuate chocolate's effects. Some subjects report that bupropion (Wellbutrin) reduces their chocolate-cravings; but other chocoholics dispute this.

The Search For The Truth
Prescription-strength chocolate - Addictive Maybe?
This is another case where one study says one thing and another study says something else. In an article by Dr. Andrew Wiel, "Recently, scientists discovered that the anandamides in chocolate and cocoa powder activate the same receptor in the brain as marijuana. The result is a sense of well-being or mild euphoria." However, in a subsequent study Dr. Vincenzo Di Marzo of the Istituto per la Chimica di Molecale di Interesse Biologico in Naples states that chocolate contains too little of the substance to produce marijuana-like effects.

Both sides agree that chocolate may contain addictive compounds. Once again no one is certain what the compounds are and why they may affect us as they do. It was a hunch, little more, that launched Daniele Piomelli and his co workers on their search for marijuana like compounds in chocolate. But their intuition paid off. These neuropharmacologists not only found one such cannabinoid, but perhaps more importantly, they also turned up two related chemicals that they believe could provide therapeutic insights into treating a host of ails, including depression. Chocolate is one of the world's most widespread passions. The typical Swiss eats more than 21 pounds of this candy each year. Even the average Belgian or Brit downs some 16 pounds annually, and here in the United States, consumption weighs in at roughly 11.5 pounds per year. Not only is this "the food most commonly craved by women," observes Adam Drewnowski, director of the University of Michigan's Human Nutrition Program, but owing to its hedonistic properties, chocolate can play a major role in a number of disorders, including bulimia, binge eating, and obesity. In susceptible individuals, for instance, it can fuel an addiction like desire, especially among people who exercise excessively, such as dancers. Drewnowski found that among ballerinas, "chocolate is a fetish food." They crave it, talk about it endlessly -- even dream about it.

There's some hints that chocolate may possess natural analgesic properties, Drewnowski says. His own studies indicate that eating high-fat, chocolate foods can trigger the brain's production of natural opiates. Last year, Drewnowski showed that when he used a drug to block the brain's opiate receptors, a binge-eater's desire for sweet, fatty foods -- such as chocolate -- plummeted. One major unanswered question remained: Does the body simply desire anything sweet and fatty, or does it instead feel some special craving for chocolate? In fact, all of the sweet, fatty foods used in Drewnowski's taste trials contained at least some chocolate. In the Aug. 22 Nature, Piomelli's group identifies a trio of compounds in chocolate that may act independently of fat and sugar -- at least in their ability to enhance a sense of pleasure or well-being.

Two years ago, Piomelli and some European colleagues reported the first evidence that nerve cells in the brain produce anandamide. This chemical activates the same cellular receptors as THC, the agent in marijuana smoke that causes a pleasurable "high". Shortly after the brain makes anandamide, an enzyme breaks it down. The system naturally limits anandamide's lifespan, and, thereby, the duration of this cannabinoid's effects. Unfortunately, Piomelli confesses, "We really don't know what anandamide does in the brain. But we can draw deductions from the effects of THC because when we give anandamide to animals, it produces the same effects as when you inject them with THC." In the recent study, Piomelli's group identified two anandamidelike compounds in chocolate -- which go by the unwieldy names of N-oleoylethanolamine and N-linoleoylethanolamine. At least in test-tube experiments, both delay anandamide's breakdown. Moreover, relative to the concentration of anandamide measured in chocolate, those of its chemical cousins proved relatively high.

What made Piomelli look for these compounds? "From a pharmacological standpoint, chocolate is terra incognita" -- largely uncharted territory. "But we knew that chocolate contains a lot of fat, and that there are not many fatty substances that modulate brain activity." Because THC was among the few fat-soluble substances with that ability, Piomelli decided to look for its natural analog. The big surprise, Piomelli says, was the realization that any pleasure we derive from eating chocolate probably traces less to the candy's anandamide than to its chemical cousins -- and the role they play in prolonging the pleasurable sensations associated with the body's own natural production of anandamide. Indeed, such an indirect role in pleasure enhancement would go a long way toward explaining why eating chocolate does not create the same giddy euphoria that smoking marijuana does. "If one smokes a joint, its THC goes into the brain and activates all of the [cannabinoid] receptors," Piomelli explains. "So you get a global high." Because anandamide's chemical cousins don't bind to cannabinoid receptors, they may do nothing -- unless anandamide is present. And even then, their effects would be limited to just those regions of the brain where anandamide had been naturally produced. So all that these cousins may be doing is prolonging the natural and quite localized effects of the body's own anandamide, whatever they turn out to be.

Because opiates and cannabinoids trigger different receptors in the brain, Drewnowski points out that any cannabinoid-system effects should occur independently of the opiate responses he has linked to sweetened fats. After all, he notes, if cannabinoids explained the whole picture, unsweetened cocoa powder should be as enticing as a chocolate bar. Then again, he notes that there can occur a certain amount of "cross talk" between brain-signalling agents. What this means, he says, is that compounds can sometimes indirectly influence opiates and other systems in unexplained ways. Notwithstanding, Piomelli finds the new cannabinoid data "therapeutically interesting." Pot smoking often triggers a case of "the munchies" -- a sudden appetite. "If you're anorexic because you don't have an appetite, and a drug suddenly makes your food taste better [as THC does], that can be very good," Piomelli maintains. Or, if someone is depressed, a drug that induces a sense of well being can prove beneficial.

"People already self-prescribe chocolate for depression," Piomelli notes. "But presumably, one can come up with something more potent than these compounds in chocolate," he says. And though it wouldn't taste as good as chocolate, he notes that "there's no reason we can't involve it in chocolate." For instance, he posits, "We could put chocolate around it." In the mean time, individuals wishing to self-medicate with non prescription-strength chocolate should reach for cocoa -- or dark chocolate, which can contain two to three times as much of these compounds, per ounce, as milk chocolate. Chocoholics already know this, however. When people strongly crave chocolate, Drewnowski's data show, inexpensive, low-quality candy won't do. "They want very high fat, dark chocolate." And this would seem to bridge his findings to Piomelli's, he notes, since the dark chocolate delivers plenty of cannabinoid cousins in a package enriched with natural-opiates-inducing cocoa butter.