Chocolatey Happiness

It's Easter Sunday. To some, this is a spiritual, holy day of remembering and celebrating. For many this is also a day of sharing chocolate and sweet gifts with loved ones. I for one have been doing lots of giving, especially to my nieces and nephews who were very pleased to receive chocolate eggs along with their latest toy craze- princesses, pirates, nurses...I also have been at the receiving end too, and have unashamedly been calmly making my way through some of my favourite chocolates all day (diet starts tomorrow, of course!). I feel serene, content, and for some bizarre reason I feel no guilt. Everyone's at it today, aren't they? I have been quietly checking status updates to confirm that it isn't just me partaking in some chocolatey indulgence, and I feel quite confident that most of my friends and family are all up to the same tricks today (phew).

So these feelings of enjoyment that come as soon as one bites into the delicious, crisp chocolate shell of the egg- what's that all about? I definitely don't get the same 'mmmm' or 'aaahhhh' feelings when I bite into the crisp skin of an apple, so why does chocolate seem to make me feel happy? It's all to do with a chemical called serotonin. Apparently, when we eat chocolate, we inadvertently increase the levels of serotonin, the 'molecule of happiness', in our brains, which in turn makes us feel happier. This is because serotonin is made in our brains using an amino acid called tryptophan, which is found in milk and other foods. Milk is of course one of the core ingredients in the milk chocolate recipe, but serotonin and tryptophan are also found in the cocoa solids too. Bonus! As a neurotransmitter, serotonin is responsible for our moods, as well as memory, learning and behaviour. Serotonin is transmitted across the synaptic cleft and binds to specific receptors, where it is then absorbed and brings about certain effects, one effect being the feeling of happiness. Check out the diagram University of Bristol have produced to show serotonin binding to receptors http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/serotonin/serotonin%20as%20a%20neurotransmitter.htm. So voilà - I can eat chocolate forever and ever and be happy. Pffft... I wish. There are a couple of major setbacks to this dream diet scenario....

Firstly, dark chocolate is really the best source of tryptophan and serotonin, as it's the 75-85% cocoa options that have the most benefits. In my opinion, dark chocolate isn't the nicest variety of chocolate as its quite bitter, and I wouldn't fancy eating more than a square or two in one go. Secondly, eating too much chocolate might cause negative health effects such as weight gain and increased blood sugar levels leading to health issues such as type II diabetes, and I certainly don't want to come across as advocating eating high fat, sugary foods on a regular basis. Luckily for us all though we can get our tryptophan fix from other, much healthier foods too, such as bananas, pineapples and plums, which is now going to create an element of confusion the next time we find ourselves at the chocolate fountain.

So where does this leave us? Well, we have to enjoy ourselves don't we? After all, a little of what you fancy does you good, or so the saying goes. In the case of eating chocolate, this saying might not be far from the truth (although other opinions say otherwise). Every once in a while, a chocolate therapy session isn't going to hurt anyone, unless you have intolerances to lactose or cocoa, or have insulin production problems, etc, in which case stay away from chocolate! So long as we don't rely on chocolate as the sole source of our serotonin production, then what's the harm? Happy Easter!