If you’re a chocoholic, are you also more likely to be depressed? That’s what a recent report in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests. Researchers at University of California-San Diego, lead by Dr. Natalie Rose, have suggested that people who eat a chocolate bar a week are more likely to be depressed than those who enjoy chocolate only occasionally. The folks who ate the most chocolate in the survey of 1000 people, at 6 bars a month, were also the most depressed!
Interestingly enough, the researchers can’t rule out either option. Either these people are self-medicating with chocolate to improve their moods as the old wives’ tale says, or they’re depressed because there’s something in chocolate causing the depression. Dr. Rose says, “Alternatively, analogous with alcohol, there could be short-term benefits of chocolate to mood with longer-term untoward effects.”
As someone who tends to eat when stressed, I can honestly say that the fact I’m eating comfort food quickly gives way to a feeling of distress as to my lack of willpower. I do get the good buzz from chocolate, but I also get a lot of cocoa-based guilt.
Tags: chocolate, chocolate and depression, depression, people who are depressed eat more chocolate, Archives of Internal Medicine, University of California-San Diego
