Your chocolate problem may not stem from a simple lack of willpower. You may be addicted to chocolate's drug-like effects. It's not just chocolate's luscious taste, smell and texture that drive chocoholics wild, researchers from the University of Arizona College of Medicine write in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. See, chocolate is a drug as well as a food, the authors conclude, and like cocaine or alcohol it can be addicting. Think about it.
Many people scarf down chocolate in secret.
They may binge on it until their faces are smeared and they're ready to throw up, but they get a kind of high while eating it. The researchers write that there's a method behind this madness. Anandamide binds to and activates the cannabinoid receptors in the brain, mimicking the effects of drugs such as marijuana. Magnesium deficiency is thought to contribute to PMS, and chocolate seems like a much more appetizing way of alleviating symptoms than say, Midol. Monthly hormonal fluctuations might also influence women's chocolate cravings.