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Data types | Fact sheet
Feature essays: Sample
This sample is intended to show the structure of our feature essays. If you are interested in subject-specific data, you may also like to view the essay samples for a particular subject.
Chocolate Addiction: Chemistry or Psychology?
by Julian Rowe
Who eats chocolate?
Women eat more chocolate than men, with children's consumption somewhere in between. Each Briton, on average, now eats more than 7 kg/15 lb per year. Sales of chocolate rose during the depression in the 1930s and have remained buoyant during the current one. No one actually needs to eat chocolate, so what is so special about it?
Chemical properties of chocolate
Expert opinion is divided. Chemists have analysed chocolate and discovered several powerful chemical substances. One of these, phenylethylamine (up to 660 mg per 100 g), is a stimulant. Its chemical structure is similar to that of dopamine and adrenaline, which both occur naturally in the body. It raises the heart rate, blood pressure, and blood glucose, and generally heightens sensation.
Chocolate also contains two other interesting chemical substances: methyl xanthine (5 mg per 100 g) and theobromine (160 mg per
100 g). These are also stimulants, chemically related to caffeine. So perhaps the effect of chocolate consumption is like drinking tea or coffee?
Cocoa butter
Carried to excess, the consumption of chocolate leads to nausea and vomiting. But what most people like is the sensation that eating chocolate produces in the mouth. This is due to cocoa butter, the vegetable fat in cocoa beans. Cocoa butter is a highly saturated fat, but has little effect on serum cholesterol levels.
Psychological appeal of chocolate
Psychologists believe that obsession with chocolate is caused by social conditioning. Chocolate is comforting; it is eaten as an indulgence and often when we are already full – at Christmas, for example. Giving chocolate is a sign of social approval.
Advertising in the chocolate industry
Chocolate is also big business. Chocolate of all sorts, for all sorts of occasions, is heavily advertised, and the advertising is mostly directed at women and children. Unsurprisingly, sales peak at Christmas and Easter.
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