Chocolate acts on the human brain as a drug
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Very often it is difficult for sweet tooth to overcome an inexplicable craving for chocolate. Its attractive force is so great that it is so desirable to enjoy another piece, and then one more and so on can leave a whole tile of delicious treats, and sometimes not just one.
So what is the secret of such a strong attraction to chocolate?
This is what scientists from the University of Michigan tried to find out.
Despite the fact that the results of many studies indicate the medicinal properties of chocolate, which have beneficial effects on the heart and can reduce the risk of stroke, experts equate it with ... A drug.
In the brain there is a site - neostriatum, which, as previously believed by scientists, is responsible only for monitoring various human movements. However, it now turned out that in this area there is a pleasure center that a person receives from food.
In the course of the research, the experts carried out experiments on rats that received enkephalin directly into this site, similar in their action to morphine, which could reduce sensitivity to pain.
When receiving a dose of rats enkephalin, before the eyes of experts appeared an unexpected picture: the rodents began at an incredible speed and in incredible amounts absorb chocolate sweets. In an hour, one rat ate from 3 to 3.5 kilograms of sweetness. According to scientists, if such an experiment was conducted in public, the effect would be similar, with the only difference that a person could overpower 70 kilograms of chocolate.
"We saw with our own eyes that the mechanism of the influence of chocolate on the brain is very similar to how drugs affect it," says co-author Alexander Di Feliceantonio. - The same area of the brain is activated when drug addicts see drugs. It is very hard for a person to overcome himself and give up what he enjoys. "
Of course, experts refused to conduct such experiments in public. However, they conducted another experiment. Using magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers scanned the human brain. They observed the activity of the neostriatum during the demonstration of drugs to drug addicts. The activity of this site during the contemplation of narcotics sharply increased. The same effect was produced by food on people suffering from obesity. People with normal weight reacted to food slightly.
This research shows new facets of understanding pleasure centers in the human brain and reveals new secrets of habits when people reward themselves for any result with food.
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