Why people are obese has been attributed to many factors, such as genetics, lifestyle choices, disease and hedonism. Hedonism is what drives us to eat tasty and pleasurable foods. One of the commonly studied hedonic foods is chocolate.
Chemistry May Explain Why People Love Chocolate so Much
The ingredients in chocolate have a significant impact on why people love chocolate so much. Chocolate contains cannabinoids (as in marijuana) but not enough to elicit the high people get from smoking pot. Chocolate also contains caffeine, which we know can be addictive. The chemicals with the greatest chemical impact in chocolate are tryptophan and tyramine. These two chemicals are converted in the brain into substances that elicit the feel-good response in the brain: serotonin and dopamine.
Can Eating Chocolate Help Reduce Pain?
In an article that appeared in Journal of Neurobiology, researchers tested mice to see their reaction to painful stimuli while they were eating different foods. The array of foods fed to the mice included tasty and pleasure stimulating (hedonic) foods like chocolate and sugary water and non-hedonic foods like bitter quinine laced water and salty water. The results showed that while mice were eating the hedonic foods they tended to ignore painful stimulus.
Non-Chocolate Food Ineffective in Pain Analgesia
However, when eating non-hedonic foods the mice reacted to the pain. The researchers concluded that this aversion to pain was associated with a reflex style signaling in the brainstem which signaled the mice to keep eating the hedonic foods even when painful stimuli were introduced.(H. Foo and Peggy Mason “Analgesia Accompanying Food Consumption Requires Ingestion of Hedonic Foods”, The Journal of Neuroscience, October 14, 2009, 29(41):13053-13062 abstract).
Brain Stimulates Pain, Taste and Response Connection
Eating tasty foods to overcome pain is not a new concept. In one study infants were given sucrose solutions while receiving their vaccinations. This tasty treat shortened their crying duration after the shot. (Evelyn Cohen Reis, MD; Erika Kraus Roth, BS; Janet L. Syphan, BS; Sally E. Tarbell, PhD; Richard Holubkov, PhD “Effective Pain Reduction for Multiple Immunization Injections in Young Infants” Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2003;157:1115-1120.) In the Foo article the scientists concluded that there is a center in the brain that connects the two stimuli, pain and taste. The connection was reflex-driven and apparently not something the individual could control.
Drinking Water is as Effective as Chocolate in Pain Management
The mice in the above Foo study showed an aversion to their painful stimuli while drinking water. One can conclude that water elicits a hedonic response in the brain as well. Therefore, to curb the obesity epidemic it may be beneficial to choose water when dealing with pain. Water has significantly fewer calories than chocolate. Water would be the perfect alternative.
 |
