Eating chocolate makes you happy

According to a web-based survey, biting a bar of chocolate every day is connected to good mood and happy feelings. Eventhough chocolates are high in fat and sugar, it has long been seen as a pleasurable indulgence. However, recent evidence suggests that, like other plant based products, it also contains antioxidants, which can protect from chronic disease.

Researchers at the University of Bath, now suggest that people who eat chocolate regularly are happier than those who do not! A group of 900 people were divided into three - one ate a bar of a well-known brand of chocolate a day, another was asked not to eat chocolate, while the third were free to eat chocolate or not, as they liked. The group reported their feelings via a Web-based interactive diary over a week. In the chocolate group, 70 per cent said they felt happy, compared to 35 per cent in the chocolate-deprived group. In the free choice group, 60 per cent felt happy.

Dr. Adrian Owen, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge, said that recent brain imaging studies have shed new light on why chocolate has an impact on mood. It's often assumed that chocolate contains psychoactive substances that affect brain chemistry. In fact, it is more likely that the unique combination of taste, texture and aroma in a bar of chocolate stimulate the pleasure centres than any other food.