Chocolate in the veins of women

Buying chocolate, whatever the reason, is considered a fairly safe decision for a woman. Women buy chocolate or chocolate products from those who know what to buy and those who have no idea what to buy. Those with ideas and those without. Those who want to make her happy and those who don''t want to disappoint her. (And those who want to apologise to her.) The former because they know her well enough, which means they also know her taste, which can be very specific, very unique; the latter because they don''t know enough about her. (The latter are usually somewhere in between.) And they certainly don''t want to be disappointed. But it is hard to contribute to the frenzy by buying chocolate or sweets. It is even harder because chocolate seems to be written into women''s DNA.

When chocolate is not a habit but a biological necessity

It''s true that women who prefer to avoid chocolate in the name of health, and even more so in the name of a beautiful figure, find it (even) a little harder to do so when menstruation is just around the next bend. Reduced serotonin levels, a well-known promoter of inner satisfaction, increase levels of irritability, low mood, crankiness, even aggressiveness. And eating chocolate, which is rich in magnesium, known, among other things, for relieving the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome and relieving headaches, increases serotonin levels in the body. In fact, it could be said that women are in a sense biologically entitled to chocolate.

This is also why it is not surprising that a study has shown that the percentage of women who prefer chocolate to sex is even higher than usual (and not even negligible) in the period just before the onset of menstruation. What is more, in biochemical terms, there should be no difference at all between having sex and eating chocolate in large quantities.

Of particular interest, and all the more so for all parents-to-be, is a study carried out in Finland, which looked at the impact of chocolate on stress. It showed that eating chocolate during pregnancy has a positive effect not only on the pregnant woman, but also on the child: children whose mothers consumed chocolate daily during pregnancy appeared to be more active, more open-minded and more optimistic about the world than children whose mothers did not include chocolate on their menus.

Chocolate, a binder of mind and spirit

Chocolate, which has long had a reputation as an aphrodisiac, stimulates the production of phenylethylamine, also known as the love molecule. Phenylethylamine is naturally produced in our bodies, especially in the brain, and is converted in the pleasure zones into dopamine, the substance responsible for the joyful fluttering of butterflies in the stomach, both in times of falling in love and in other times of elation. It is not surprising, then, that people in the grip of depression have significantly lower levels of phenylethylamine, otherwise related to amphetamines. The improved psycho-physical well-being, as well as the enhanced capacity for empathy and the higher level of concentration after eating a rib of chocolate, are by no means a coincidence.

Just as it is no coincidence that the film industry likes to push a box of chocolates or a tub of ice-cream in front of a frustrated woman with greasy hair and an old, unzipped tracksuit. Since the reason for her miserable state is usually to be found in an unhappy love, it is only natural that, with all the problems she has accumulated, she should not even care that chocolate, thanks to its high antioxidant content, protects against the damaging effects of free radicals. Let alone the details of the anti-inflammatory action of flavonoids. Nor does it reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in circumstances characterised by a misguided course of love. But she knows, and knows quite well, that life has become a little nicer and easier, that stress is slowly draining away, and that it does not make sense to forget all the good things in life for the sake of a ''jerk''.