Depressed? Perhaps it's the chocolate

Depressed? Perhaps it's the chocolate

When we're down, we turn to chocolate for comfort, when we need something sweet, we turn to chocolate..... but did you know that people who regularly eat chocolate are more prone to bad moods and depression?

According to research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, those who eat at least a bar every week are more gloomy than those who only eat chocolate now and again. They found that people who feel depressed eat about 55 percent more chocolate than their non-depressed peers. And the more depressed they feel, the more chocolate they tend to eat.

It's believed by many that chocolate has the power to lift mood, but the US team say this may be true, although scientific proof for this is lacking.

What they say they can't rule out, is that chocolate may be a cause rather than the cure for being depressed.

Chocolate study

Their study of 1000 adults found that the more chocolate the men and women consumed the lower their mood.

Those who ate the most - more than six regular 28g size bars a month - scored the highest on depression, using a recognised scale, the article Chocolate lovers 'are more depressive', say experts, found.

Of those in the study, none of them were on antidepressants or had been diagnosed as clinically depressed by a doctor.

Dr. Natalie Rose and her colleagues from the University of California, San Diego, say there are many possible explanations for their findings, and that these need to be investigated.

It may simply be that people who are depressed crave chocolate as a "self-treatment" to lift mood, or depression may drive the craving without any beneficial effect.

"Alternatively, analogous with alcohol, there could be short-term benefits of chocolate to mood with longer-term untoward effects," they told the journal.

Chocolate could even be a direct cause of depression, the researchers added.

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

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