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Neuroscience For Kids - sweet mysteries of chocolate @import "c/deB.css"; you are here: home > explore > discovering the sweet mysteries of chocolate Neuroscience For Kids Discovering the Sweet Mysteries of Chocolate  By Ellen KuwanaNeuroscience for Kids Staff WriterChocolate History The ancient Mayans and Aztecs of the Americas consumed chocolate. Thesepeople drank cacao, or the chocolate bean, which was ground into hotwater, like the hot chocolate we drink today. However, their cacao wasrather bitter and had chilies in it. For those of us who hoard ourchocolate candies, it is easy to understand why the Mayans and Aztecs usedcacao beans as currency. Imagine using candies instead of coins!  How did chocolate spread around the world? In 1502, on his fourth andlast voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus came upon a canoe thatwas transporting agricultural products, including cacao beans. He seizedthe contents of the canoe and brought cacao back to Spain. Chocolate didnot become popular for many years in Europe, but decades later, theSpaniards added sugar to the cacao, and the rest, as they say, is history.Chocolate soon became the preferred drink of the royal courts in Europe.The belief was that chocolate could cure any illness. Have you ever seen a cacao bean, (or, as it is more commonly known, acocoa bean)? These beans grow on a tree called Theobroma cacao.The cacao tree is pollinated by insects called midges and is grown onlywithin 10-20 degrees latitude of the Equator. These regions include WestAfrica, Central America, parts of South America, and the CaribbeanIslands. The beans, which grow in the fruit pods of the tree, aregenerally harvested twice a year. Each pod is about the size of a handand contains 20-50 beans. The pods turn bright yellow, orange, or red whenripe. The beans are dried, and then the center part is removed by hand andallowed to ferment. After the beans dry again, they are sold. Thechocolate manufacturer must separate the beans from any debris, remove thehard outer shell, and grind the center part of the bean. Chocolate, Chocolate Everywhere   Chocolate candy bars, after-dinner mints, brownies, truffles, doughnuts,chocolate milk - if it has chocolate in it, we eat it. Hot, cold, solid,liquid, over ice cream...even over meat?! Yes, a Mexican sauce called"mole" uses unsweetened chocolate in a sauce that is served over meat. It's a versatile flavor, chocolate. Chocolate has been blamed for acneand tooth decay, but research has found that it is innocent of theseevils. That must have made lots of people worldwide sigh in relief: thechocolate industry sells five billion dollars worth of chocolate each yearin the U.S. alone. The U.S. is only the eighth largest consumer ofchocolate. Switzerland, whose citizens eat more than 21 pounds per personeach year, leads the world in chocolate consumption.An Appetite for Chocolate Why do we crave chocolate? There are times when nothing else tastes asgood as chocolate. There are times when you want nothing else. Nothing else will do. There's even a name for someone who craves chocolate: achocoholic. It's almost an uncontrollable urge. Some scientists wondered why the average person in the U.S. eats 11pounds of chocolate each year. They decided to analyze the contents ofchocolate to find out how those compounds might affect our brains, andthus our moods. Just as caffeine seems to perkpeople up, chocolate seems to make us feel happy. Chocolate contains approximately 380 known chemicals, so it's nowonder it's difficult to figure out why chocolate is such a favorite treat. And who's to say that it's only one or two things in chocolate thatcause us to feel happy? Many of the chemicals in chocolate are found inother foods, yet we don't buy heart-shaped bananas to show that specialsomeone that we care for them. It may be a unique chemical combinationthat gives chocolate its edge over vanilla, berry, and caramel. Althoughchocolate has been said to improve mood, it contains saturated fat andsugar, too, so don't overindulge - it's not the healthiest food. And keepchocolate away from Spot! A two-ounce piece of chocolate can be fatal to adog because it can not digest one compound in chocolate calledtheobromine. Chocolate can also make some small children sick for the samereason. Chocolate and the Nervous System Adam Drewnowski at the University of Michigan researched whether chocolatetriggers the production of opioids. Opioids are chemicals, such as thosefound in opium, that produce a feeling of well-being (euphoria). Drewnowski found that eating chocolate causes the brain to produce naturalopiates, which dulI pain and increase a feeling of well-being. If thereceptors in the brain that signal the presence of opioids were blocked,chocolate bingeing decreased. It was not shown, however, if this wascaused by the high fat or sugar content of chocolate candy.  Researchers at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, EmmanuellediTomaso (she's now at Harvard University) and Daniele Piomelli (he's nowat the University of California, Irvine) looked into the chemicalcomponents of chocolate. They found three substances inchocolate that "could act as cannabinoid mimics either directly (byactivating cannabinoid receptors) or indirectly (by increasing anandamidelevels)." What do all these big words mean? A little backgroundinformation may help make this more understandable. A receptor is a structure on the surface of a cell that interacts withcertain chemicals. Receptors have different shapes, and thus interact withspecific molecules. diTomaso describes this interaction like this: "theactive compound will lock itself to the protein and that triggers areaction inside the cell." Cannabinoids are substances that act likecannabis, also known as marijuana. The activechemical in marijuana is called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and there arereceptors in the brain that bind THC. When THC binds to these receptors,the person feels "high." Anandamide is a lipid that is normally found inthe brain; it can bind to the same receptors as THC and thus produce asimilar effect to "being high." Does chocolate affect the brain in the same way marijuana does? There are chemicals in chocolate that act like THC, resulting inproduction of dopamine, a neurotransmitter. However, there is no THC inchocolate, so you aren't breaking the law by eating chocolate. One of thecompounds in chocolate is anandamide, which is already produced in yourbrain. If anandamide is already in your brain, then why don't you feelhappy all the time? Well, anandamide is broken down quickly, so it isn'taround long in your brain to make you smile. But chocolate may extend thefeelings of well being. Piomelli's research indicates that there are twochemicals in chocolate which inhibit the natural breakdown of anandamide.This may be a reason why we like to eat chocolate! And dark chocolatecontains more of these compounds than milk chocolate. Eating a bar of chocolate will not make you feel giddy or "high." Thismay be because anandamide and the two compounds that enhance its effectare short-lived and localized in the brain. THC activates many receptorsthroughout the brain, so it has a much largereffect. Chocolate's effect is limited because anandamide is notpresent all over the brain. Scientists doubt if anandamide and otherchemicals in chocolate have much effect because they are present only insmall amounts. Christian Felder at the National Institute of Mental Healthestimates that a 130-pound person would have to eat 25 pounds of chocolateat one time to get any marijuana-like effect. Also, because thesecompounds are eaten, it's difficult to determine how much enters thebloodstream and actually reaches the brain.There may also be other explanations for the feelings caused by chocolateand these may have nothing to do with cannabinoids, anandamide, orreceptors. There are many other components in chocolate that may play arole in its popularity. Eating chocolate may be pleasurable because of aunique interaction among a few of its components. Chocolate also contains phenylethylamine, a chemical related toamphetamines. Like amphetamines, this chemical causes blood pressure andblood-sugar levels to rise, resulting in a feeling of alertness andcontentment. Phenylethylamine has been called the "love-drug" because itquickens your pulse, as if you are in love. Caffeine in chocolate mayalso cause feelings of alertness and a pounding heart. Other stimulants inchocolate include theobromine and methylxanthines. Thesecaffeine-relatives are weaker than caffeine-you'd have to eat more than 12Hershey bars to get as much caffeine as there is in one cup of coffee. Allof these stimulants increase the activity of neurotransmitters in thebrain. Whatever the true reason for chocolate's popularity, scientists willcontinue to investigate the sweet mysteries of cacao. In the meantime,grab a bar for yourself and a box for your Valentine. Life is sweeter withchocolate.  Hear It"Opioid" | "Cannabinoid"References and more information about chocolate: Brain Cannabinoids in Chocolate, Nature, August 22, 1996, pp. 677-678 by diTomaso, E., Beltramo, M., and Piomelli, D.Chocolate: the Legal 'High', August 21, 1996, Medical Tribune News Service by Mann, D.Marijuana and Chocolate, AIDS Treatment News 257-October 18, 1996 by James, J.S.The Sweet Lure of Chocolate - All about the history of chocolate andresearch about its effects, plus a list of references and related links.Sweet Seduction - History of chocolateThe Science of Love - Research into why we love chocolate.Trick or Treat from Food Endocannabinoids?, Nature, Vol. 396,December 17, 1998, pp. 636-637, by DiMarzo, Sepe,DePetrocellis, Berger, Crozier, Fride and Mechoulam - A letter to Nature raising questions and concerns about the originalreport of endocannabinoids in chocolate, plus a reply by two of the authors of the report, Beltramo and Piomelli.Theobroma cacao Copyright © 1996-2008, Eric H. 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