This is your brain on Chocolate

Spend enough time on the internet, or watching daytime TV, or even the local news, and you’ll probably end up hearing about the latest scientific study telling you your favourite guilty pleasure food is actually good for you. A month later, you may find out about another study telling you that same food is really, really bad for you. The truth is not all of these studies can be relied upon 100%, not just because each person is different, but because scientists don’t always have all the facts. The thing people forget about these scientific studies is that they are just that; ongoing studies. It is very difficult for scientists in any field to say they are completely certain about anything, because there is always new information to be sought out and taken into account. When it comes to studies about chocolate and its effects on the human brain, the same is true. This does not mean that there aren’t some overwhelming similarities and common examples of ways chocolate can effect our brains, it just means you have to take each study with a grain of salt (or salted caramel, if that’s your flavor!).

Chocolate and Mood

When you were young and feeling sad, your parents may have treated you to something sweet like chocolate to help brighten your mood. While it may not have seemed like it at the time, your parents were doing far more to help improve your mood than just giving you something sweet to eat. They were actually contributing to physiological changes in your brain that helped improve your mood on a chemical level! Scientists have found in multiple studies that ingesting chocolate helps increase Serotonin levels in your brain, which induces a calming effect in a person. Eating chocolate also leads to an increase in dopamine levels in your brain. Dopamine in moderate doses allows you to feel happy and satisfied, and is a big part of how our brains feel happiness at any given time.

Chocolate is Brain Food!

Beyond improving your mood, a long term study conducted in New York City has found that many people see an improvement in cognitive skills when they eat chocolate on a regular basis. People who eat chocolate on a weekly basis have demonstrated superior brain function when it comes to things like spatial sense, memory, abstract reasoning and even organization skills. While it is not entirely clear whether chocolate is directly liked to these superior functions, or if it is a result of lowered stress and improved mood induced by chocolate consumption, there does seem to be a correlation between chocolate and higher cognitive functioning. At the very least, there seems to be no indication that chocolate is at all bad for your brain!

One major point taken from studies like this is the fact that higher quality chocolate seems to have a more positive overall effect on a person’s brain. At Totally Chocolate, we proudly feature the very best chocolate products in terms of quality as well as presentation. To take a look at the selection of terrific, customizable chocolate products we offer, be sure to check out our products page. You can also contact one of our representatives directly by phone to place an order today!