The Truth of Chocolate Addiction

Chocolate is the single most craved food, and for understandable reasons. As far as your brain in concerned, it is a drugstore hidden in a food. Not only does it contain caffeine and a related compound, theobromine; it also has an amphetamine-like ingredient, phenylethylamine (PEA), and works like an opiate. It turns out to be more like a drug than anyone had imagined.

In emergency rooms, doctors use a drug called naloxone to stop the effects of heroin and morphine. It blocks opiate receptors in the brain, and a person treated with naloxone gets no "high" from narcotics. Researchers decided to see what happens when a committed chocolate lover is pretreated with this same opiate blocker. The results are surprising, and a bit disconcerting. Chocolate becomes not much more exciting than, say, a piece of dry bread. It still fills you up, but it loses its allure. Chocolate's extra pleasure apparently comes from its ability to stimulate opiate receptors in the brain. The same has been demonstrated for other fat-sugar mixtures, such as ice cream or cookies made with plenty of butter and sugar.

When researchers offered groups of volunteers trays filled with various snacks, they found that the opiate blocker stopped much of chocolate's appeal. Volunteers ate 90% fewer Oreos, 60% fewer M&M's, and 46% fewer Snicker's bars.

What to do? First of all, assess whether a food habit does you any harm. If your chocolate indulgences are rare, there is little reason for concern. It is a mistake to blame a weight problem on sweets if the real problem is in the main dishes that make up your routine. An occasional one-ounce serving of jelly beans, with its 100 or so calories, is not health food by any means, but a typical 4-ounce chicken breast landing on your plate at every lunch and dinner has double the calories and much more fat. If, however, chocolate or other sweet snacks are adding sizable amounts of sugar and fat to your diet on a regular basis, it may be time for action.

Take a look a ways to have a chocolate taste that no one will worry about. The recipe section includes desserts made with cocoa powder or carob, which will help you avoid some of the fat and calories of regular chocolate.

Second, see the three-week diet makeover in Turn Off the Fat Genes. It is a simple way to retrain your tastes without the need to say no to any food forever. This technique is remarkably effective, and you can use it as often as you like.

Third, some people find that magnesium (300 milligrams twice a day) helps. It is available at health food stores and drugstores. Also, the antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin) has been shown to knock out chocolate cravings for some people. Bupropion's chemical structure is similar to PEA.