Dark chocolate has been shown to ease emotional stress in recent studies. However, in yet another study researchers are now saying that people who are depressed eat more chocolate than people who are not.
The latest in a long line of studies on chocolate indicates that people who were depressed ate an average of 8.4 servings of chocolate per month, compared with 5.4 servings among those who were not.
In the study, a serving was considered to be one small bar, or 1 ounce of chocolate.
The study, conducted by Dr. Natalie Rose of the UC Davis and UC San Diego, and her colleagues, looked at the relationship between chocolate and mood among 931 women and men who were not using antidepressants.
The one question the study did not answer is why people who are depressed eat chocolate. However, this does not seem to be something one needs to have a scientific degree to answer: most people perk up at the mention of chocolate, never mind eating it. Perhaps it's the therapeutic value of chocolate that gives a lift to those who are suffering from depression.
The authors of the study countered that theory by stating that chocolate actually makes people depressed. Although chocolate can be uplifting to one's mood, the benefits are fleeting. The initial rush from eating chocolate may leave people feeling even lower after the brief euphoria has passed.
Of course, there will be another study to study that.
All of these studies on chocolate are quite contradictory. One study indicates that chocolate lowers risk of heart attack, strokes. Yet another indicates that dark chocolate eases emotional stress. If we put all of the studies together, we'll be eating chocolate to ease our emotional stress and celebrating with chocolate to cut the risk of a heart attack, only to become depressed because we ate too much chocolate.
There is no medical advice given in this column, but perhaps the best suggestion might be "everything in moderation."
Craving chocolate after reading this? There is no medical study needed to state that you can find great chocolate here in Rhode Island:
Sweenor's Chocolates (Wakefield, Cranston and Charlestown, RI)
The Chocolate Delicacy (East Greenwich, RI)
The Bakery Boutique (Smithfield, RI)
source: examiner
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