Researchers link chocolate, depression

LOS ANGELES - One need only look at the recent introduction of chocolate Cheerios to fully grasp Americans' fondness for the pulp from cacao beans. Savoring chocolate is normal.

But, researchers said yesterday, over-indulging in it could be a marker for depression.

Researchers at UC San Diego and UC Davis examined chocolate consumption and other dietary intake patterns among 931 men and women who were not using antidepressants. The participants were also given a depression screening test.

Those who screened positive for possible depression consumed an average of 8.4 servings of chocolate - defined as 1 ounce of chocolate candy - per month. That compared with 5.4 servings per month among people who were not depressed.

Those who scored highest on the mood tests, indicating probably major depression, consumed an average of 11.8 servings per month. The findings were similar among women and men.

When the researchers controlled for other dietary factors that could be linked to mood - such as caffeine, fat and carbohydrate intake - they found only chocolate consumption correlated with mood symptoms.

It's not clear how the two are linked, the authors wrote. It could be that depression stimulates chocolate cravings as a form of self-treatment. Chocolate prompts the release of certain chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine, that produce feelings of pleasure and reward.

There is no evidence, however, that chocolate has a sustained benefit on improving mood. Like alcohol, chocolate may contribute a short-term boost in mood followed by a return to depression or a worsened mood. A study published in 2007 in the journal Appetite found that eating chocolate improved mood but only for about three minutes.

"It's unlikely that chocolate makes people depressed," said Marcia Levin Pelchat, a psychologist who studies food cravings at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. She was not involved in the new study.

"Most people believe the beneficial effects of chocolate are on mood and that they are learned. You eat chocolate, it makes you feel good; and sometimes when you're feeling badly it occurs to you, 'Gee, if I eat some chocolate I might feel better.' "