28/08/2014
Cocoa, Mind and Mood
Another dimension of the benefits of cocoa and chocolate consumption concerns mood. Cocoa is rich in agents that enhance the production of various feel-good chemicals in the brain, notably serotonin and dopamine. This means that cocoa possesses anti-depressant, mood-elevating properties. This is no surprise to the any millions of people who self medicate with chocolate every day.
“The beverage of the gods was Ambrosia; that of man is chocolate. Both increase the length of life in a prodigious manner.” - in Phantastica, Lewis Lewin
Cocoa, that mysterious and exotic rainforest food from the ancient Maya, provokes a luxurious, content mood, a serene sense of sumptuous delight. Cocoa is a Trojan horse, carrying into the body many hundreds of natural compounds, some ordinary and some exotic, which work busily to modify mood in subtle yet undeniable ways. For a growing body of scientific investigation has revealed to some modest extent how and why cocoa promotes reverie and makes us feel so good.
“The cocoa drink, or chocolate, has an additional quality not shared by tea or coffee. Whereas the latter two re**rd metabolism and beneficially stimulate the nervous system if taken moderately, chocolate directly nourishes.” – Baron Ernst von Bibra
As I have previously mentioned, cocoa is a veritable cornucopia of naturally-occurring compounds. Of this multitude, the most comprehensively studied are the methylxanthines. The two methylxanthines in chocolate are caffeine and theobromine. Compared with coffee, cocoa is a poor caffeine source. According to the Chocolate Information Center, a 50 gram piece of dark chocolate will yield between 10 – 60 milligrams of caffeine, as compared with a 5 ounce cup of coffee, which can yield up to 180 milligrams. Nonetheless, cocoa can give a modest caffeine lift.
“The stimulant effects of cocoa increase with its theobromine content. The stimulating action of theobromine is doubtless far inferior to that of caffeine, but it exists, although less evident than that of the latter. “ – Lewis Lewin
Theobromine, the second methylxanthine, occurs at a concentration of about 250 milligrams in a 50 gram bar of dark chocolate. Like caffeine, theobromine is a central nervous system stimulant, though it is appreciably weaker. But theobromine is a stronger cardiac stimulant, and a more potent diuretic. The presence of both caffeine and theobromine certainly contribute to the overall mood-modifying effect of this ambrosial food. But cococa is not an especially potent stimulant food per se. Rather, it is a complex cocktail, whose multitudinous compounds come at the brain in a thousand ways, creating a delightful and sensuous chemical soup which tickles and teases our gray matter, producing a unique reverie no other substance can replicate.
“Regarding its physiological effects, it is most probable that, similar to caffeine in coffee, theobromine is one of the most important components of cocoa.” – Baron Ernst von Bibra
Of the mood-modifying compounds in cocoa, one is PEA, or phenethylamine. This chemical, which occurs in chocolate in small quantities, stimulates the nervous system and triggers the release of pleasurable opium-like compounds known as endorphins. It also potentiates the activity of dopamine, a neurochemical directly associated with sexual arousal and pleasure. Phenethylamine increases in the brain when we fall in love, and during or**sm. The giddy, restless feelings that occur when we are in love are at least partly due to PEA. This adds a rather remarkable dimension to cocoa, and may account for why it is so highly prized. For while there are a great many agents in nature which boost libido and enhance sexual function, chocolate alone actually promotes the brain chemistry of being in love. Chocolate is the gift of lovers for this very reason.
Cocoa is a sensuous delight whose rich flavor, silky mouth feel and earthy aroma have captured the palates and imaginations of people for over three thousand years. You could make the claim that cocoa is aphrodisiac by virtue of smell, taste and feel alone. The recent scientific discoveries regarding cocoa’s love-enhancing components only further bolsters the amorous reputation of this blissful food. For throughout history lovers have turned to cocoa to heighten the experience of lo******ng. The Aztec king Montezuma reputedly drank a large goblet of the drink before retiring to his harem. The legendary Venetian lover and seducer Giovanni Giacomo Casanova reputedly consumed cocoa before bedding women, a sport in which he engaged with tremendous vigor and frequency, if historical accounts are even half accurate. From antiquity to the present, cocoa has been a gift of lovers, more often given from a man to a woman than the other way around.
“I bring to you a special drink from far across the West,
Although it’s nearest loves on whom it’s said to work the best.
Good cheer it always brings, and your full years renews.
First take a sip, my dear, and I shall presently;
And know I serve it to you with all the warmth that’s due:
For we must take good care to leave descendants for posterity.”
- a chocolate love poem, late 1700’s
Cocoa additionally boosts a sense of well being by increasing brain levels of serotonin, the so-called feel-good brain chemical. For this reason cocoa provides a highly desirable mood boost to women during PMS and menstruation, when serotonin levels are often down. In fact, women are consistently more sensitive to cocoa than men. Women typically experience stronger cocoa cravings than men. And for many, cocoa is the perfect PMS Rx. A little cocoa can restore a feeling of well being. Interestingly enough, Prozac, the blockbuster anti-depression drug, also boosts brain levels of serotonin. But Prozac is notorious for deadening libido. Just say no. Better to get your mood lift from love-promoting cocoa!
“I think that you could call chocolate a soft drug. It definitely has an effect on your brain chemistry, on your physiology. I think that a lot of chocolate consumption is based on an individual’s need to self medicate. They feel a need to have a certain amount of chemicals in their brain soup, in their cranium, and chocolate does that.” – Timothy Moley, founder of Chocolove
Yet another constituent in cocoa alters mental state in pleasurable ways. Anandamide (whose name derives from the Sanskrit word ananda, which means bliss), is a cannabinoid, a member of the same psychoactive substances found in cannabis. Anandamide binds to the same receptor sites in the brain as THC. And its effect? Anandamide produces a global feeling of euphoria. This compound may account for why some people become euphoric or blissed-out when they eat chocolate. The brain is a deep and mysterious organ, whose dark folds and gray crenellations are barely understood. But tickle the right neurons, and all heaven breaks loose.
Some scientists question that there are sufficient quantities of PEA or anandamide in cocoa to produce euphoria or a pleasurable mental state. But others are not so quick to dismiss a highly complex and chemically-loaded food employed as a mood-enhancer for centuries. For how would cocoa develop a long-standing reputation for enhancing mood, if it had no effect? Individual chemistry appears to be key with chocolate, as with almost everything else. Cocoa may have little impact on some, but it does make others swoon. Cocoa is an agent of fine and lovely reverie, and puts us in reflection of our highest selves.
Hopefully I have piqued your interest here. Whatever your previous notions of cocoa may have been, you will be surprised by what you learn here. For cocoa, an agent of sensual delight and nourishment since antiquity, is the mightiest of protective, health-imbuing agents. It literally has the power to transform medicine, and to save millions of lives.
