the power of chocolate?

damn and blast the bbc! today they had a report online that debunks the well-known scientific fact that eating chocolate makes us feel better.

"Peter Rogers, professor of biological psychology from Bristol University who is speaking at the BA Festival of Science in York, has carried out research that suggests this is not the case.

... he suggested that chocoholics were chocoholics because their favourite food was often deemed "naughty but nice". He explained: "The nice bit is its sweet taste, lovely melt-in-the-mouth texture, and our associations that we have in our food culture - we use it as a gift, a reward and as something to treat ourselves with - which gives it extra appeal. On the negative side, it is something we shouldn't eat too much of, it's not a staple food in our diet, it is relatively high in fat and sugar, and therefore potentially unhealthy. It is this that makes us want it so much. We are wrestling with the desire to eat it because it is so nice; but we restrain ourselves, because we perceive eating it as being naughty. And this unfulfilled desire, said Professor Rogers, was experienced as a craving, which in turn is attributed to addiction.

"It is explained by culture and not chemistry," he added."

if you really want to, you may read more about this here.