Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Bogelbaum. Here we humans tend to like chocolate. As of seen, the global chocolate market was valued at a hundred three billion dollars a year and growing. But why eating chocolate makes us feel good? But how? Chocolate contains several compounds that have been shown to act on the brain in myriad ways, and most of them induce pleasure. It's also long been believed that chocolate bestows heightened feelings
of sexuality upon the eater. Apparently as tech ruler Montezuma bought into this. He said to have drunk goblets full of Chuckolottle and unsweetened chocolate drink to boost his stamina and libido. There's also a widely held belief that chocolate can produce a euphoric feeling akin to a runner's high. Our understanding of euphoria producing compounds, put together with the modern concept of addiction, has even led some to believe that one can be a chocolate addict. Is that even
possible can a person become addicted to chocolate. There's actually more than one compound found in chocolate that could potentially make a person high for starters. The most widely used psychoactive drug in the world is found in chocolate caffeine. It produces a stimulating physiological effect by exciting the central nervous system, which in turn increases heart rate and contracts muscles.
It's a lot like the fight or flight response. Caffeine acts on dopamine and adnasine receptors in the brain, which then release their respective pleasure producing chemicals. Chocolate also contains a compound that's closely related to the active ingredient in cannabis, a cannabinoid called tetrahydrocannabinol. Nine fatty acids called cannabinoids hit the c B one and c B two receptors found most predominantly in the frontal cortex and the parts of
the brain responsible for motor function and memory. When cannabinoids hit these receptors, a person starts to feel intoxicated and relaxed. As a result, and as if that one two punch of psychoactive stimulant and depressant wasn't enough, chocolate also packs another surprise. Feenylethyl Amine is often called the love drug, since it releases the same chemicals that are introduced into
the human body when love comes to call. The compound produces a similar effect to the one produced by amphetamines and is classified as a hallucinogen. It's also aces releasing the pleasure producing chemicals dopamine and sarahtnin the combination produces an exciting high much like the one generated by the designer drug ecstasy. Chocolate has all of the ingredients needed to make it a wonder drug. By all rights, eating a bar of chocolate should send you into orbit. So
why isn't the stuff regulated by the FDA? Why aren't chocolate bars sold from locked cabinets behind the pharmacy counter. The truth is, while there are indeed pleasure inducing and stimulating chemical compounds found in chocolate, the amounts of most of these compounds are relatively small. As a result of the energy drinks, coffee, cigarettes, and yes, chocolate that woman's consume. These days, our brains become quite accustomed to the effects
of drugs that release pleasure inducing chemicals. Compounds that act on receptors in the brain that release pleasure generating neurotransmitters, like dopamine, work in two ways. They either bind to the receptor, causing it to release the neurotransmitters, or they bind to the site to prevent the reabsorption of those neurotransmitters. Either way, there's a lot more of the chemical floating
around in your bloodstream. This process is how chocolate or any other substance for that matter, gets its either high. It's also why chocolate doesn't have much of an effect on us. As the brain is exposed over and over to a barrage of compounds, the number of receptors available for the compounds to bind to actually decreases, and the ones that remain are less easily triggered. The reason for this reaction to drugs is the body's natural state of
seeking equilibrium. In other words, there's only supposed to be so much dopamine or other pleasure producing chemicals in the body. When hormones are released artificially by the compounds found in chocolate or any other drug, the body seeks balance by shutting down the receptors that release the hormones. As a result, we become desensitized to the effects of these compounds over time. Even if the compounds found in chocolate maybe two minute for some of us to get a chocolate happy high,
the beloved food can still affect our happiness. The category of self interest that encompasses our pursuit of happiness. Hedonism definitely includes eating chocolate. We gain feelings of pleasure, comfort, and gratification from it. The act of eating chocolate is hedonistic. When we eat it, we're seeking pleasure and alleviating pain, which are the hallmarks of hedonism. As we've seen, measuring the exact effect of chocolate on our happiness can be difficult.
Most people, however, believe that such an effect exists. In fact, one Canadian study examining the link between chocolate and happiness ended with no conclusive results because the control group that received no chocolate ended up raiding the refrigerator where the chocolate used in the study was store, thus bombing the experiment. While scientists have yet to discover what causes the relationship between chocolate and happiness, studies have managed to turn up correlations.
One two seven studies surveyed one thousand, three hundred and sixty seven respondents, all men in their seventies with similar socioeconomic backgrounds, and asked questions about their health, satisfaction in life, and emotions like happiness and loneliness. They also snuck in a question that asked what kind of candy they preferred. Those who preferred chocolate showed lower frequencies of depression and loneliness,
and had a more optimistic outlook on life. Even if science never quite figures out what chocolate does to our moods, does it really matter If eating chocolate makes you happy, go for it. Today's episode was written by Josh Clark and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart radius How Stuff Works. To hear more from Josh, check out his other shows, Stuff You Should Know and End of the World with Josh Clark. And for more on this and lots of others sweet topics,
visit our home planet, How Stuff Works dot com. Plus for more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H