The Magical Thing Eating Chocolate Does To Your Brain

[tara]

Women who go through menopause have a drastic drop in estrogen,

Possibly a drop in blood levels of estrogen. According to Peat, it can also simultaneously be accompanied by increased tissue estrogen and increased estrogen: progesterone ratio. Tissue-bound estrogen in aging
Estrogen can have effect in tissues, and increased effect under conditions of reduced progesterone.

 

[sm1693]

Chocolate does something negative to my sleep. It took me a few years to realise it, it's one of these things which effect is only seen a long time after being eaten so it was extremely difficult to establish the cause and effect. It's a shame because otherwise, I have only positive effects from chocolate to report during day time.

My suspicion is that the compound most responsible for this effect is anandamide. The same thing happens to me with no-excipient/low-cacao-% chocolate and cocoa butter. It must be a fat-soluble molecule causing the same effect between the two, and anandamide is the current front-runner.

Low dose anandamide affects food intake, cognitive function, neurotransmitter and corticosterone levels in diet-restricted mice.

This investigation reports the possible role of the endocannabinoid anandamide on modulating the behavioral and neurochemical consequences of semi-starvation. We studied the effect of very low dose anandamide (0.001 mg/kg) administration on food intake, cognitive function and catecholaminergic and serotonergic pathways in two murine brain areas concerned with appetite (hypothalamus) and learning (hippocampus), and the peripheral corticosterone response to the stress of 40% diet restriction. Anandamide-treated mice consumed 44% more food (P<0.05) during 1 week of 2.5-h feeding each day. In the hypothalamus, there were significantly increased concentrations of norepinephrine (P<0.01), dopamine (P<0.05) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) (P<0.001). In the hippocampus, anandamide increased significantly norepinephrine and dopamine, but decreased 5-HT (all at P<0.001). Diet restriction was accompanied in both areas by a significant decrease in all neurotransmitter concentrations that were partially restored by anandamide for dopamine and 5-HT, but not for norepinephrine. In animals on diet restriction, anandamide significantly improved impaired maze performance. Norepinephrine turnover and plasma corticosterone levels were also raised significantly by anandamide. The fact that low dose anandamide improved food intake, cognitive function and reversed some of the neurotransmitter changes caused by diet restriction, might have implications for the treatment of cachexia associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and cancer, for mood changes sometimes associated with dieting, and in the extreme case, of patients with anorexia.

 

[tara]

My suspicion is that the compound most responsible for this effect is anandamide.

Hmm. I've just given myself a break from dark/brown chocolate (and even the little coffee I was drinking) over the last while just to see if it would make a difference this time (I've gone without for months ata time before without obvious improvement). But I've still been having a little white chocolate most days. Maybe a proper test involves avoiding the white chocolate too. And what about the large amount of cocoa butter I'm using as body moisturiser every day (5-10g)? I guess if 1/10 of that is absorbed, maybe that makes a difference too?

 

[lindsay]

BTW, estrogen is not a bad thing. Estrogen makes copper and zinc bioavailable. Women who go through menopause have a drastic drop in estrogen, combined with a drop in zinc and copper, for the same reasons.

Women who go through menopause also have a complete drop in progesterone too. It's hard to tell what's what when Google searching because most major sources still site estrogen as the female hormone and menopause as a lack of estrogen in the body. But really, it's progesterone that's the balancing factor. I've never taken estrogen therapy, but my blood levels of estrogen rose naturally when taking a lot of progesterone and thyroid together. Which means progesterone and thyroid are probably more beneficial if you want to raise natural healthy blood levels of estrogen - just saying.

 

[Blossom]

Women who go through menopause also have a complete drop in progesterone too. It's hard to tell what's what when Google searching because most major sources still site estrogen as the female hormone and menopause as a lack of estrogen in the body. But really, it's progesterone that's the balancing factor. I've never taken estrogen therapy, but my blood levels of estrogen rose naturally when taking a lot of progesterone and thyroid together. Which means progesterone and thyroid are probably more beneficial if you want to raise natural healthy blood levels of estrogen - just saying.

That's been my experience too.

 

[DaveFoster]

Chocolate does something negative to my sleep. It took me a few years to realise it, it's one of these things which effect is only seen a long time after being eaten so it was extremely difficult to establish the cause and effect. It's a shame because otherwise, I have only positive effects from chocolate to report during day time.

It definitely promotes wakefulness. It could be the caffeine and theobromine.