A reader has asked about chocolate, women, and hormones.
There's a lot of folk wisdom on the subject. Many women say that they crave chocolate before their periods. Many men feel that women have a special connection to chocolate that men can't fully share. Both men and women sometimes have to ask, what is it about women and chocolate?
We turn to science for the answer.
- Women who have a drop in estrogen, such as is commonly experienced before a period, also experience a drop in serotonin levels -- something that chocolate can fix. An ounce of chocolate gets the pleasure centers of the brain back to normal and makes the victim of PMS feel happy with life once again. After having experienced this a few times, she'll naturally begin to crave chocolate when her serotonin levels drop.
- In addition to serotonin, chocolate also increases theobromin and phenylethalamine in the brain. The combination of the three creates a sensation like being in love. Women may be more susceptible to the feeling than men. Chocolate also reduces stress hormones, in men and women both. Since research has shown that the average American, male or female, has three days a month of feeling stressed or blue, women may just associate those hormonal effects with menstruation in a way that men naturally do not.
- Men who experience food cravings tend to crave salty, high-protein foods like pizza, while women tend to crave sweet foods, like chocolate. However, both men and women can experience stress-related food cravings. A recent study suggests that increased stress is what leads to food cravings, and that marketing is the key to the male/female split on cravings. That is, ads for pizza and burgers are more likely to be directed toward men, while ads for chocolate are more likely to be directed toward women. A woman may feel free to express a craving for chocolate, while a man may consider it effeminate to do so.
