Easter is the chocolate festival par excellence: eggs, chickens, chocolate bells, everything is an excuse to savor these sweets. What if in addition to being delicious, chocolate was good for our brain? A specialist answers us.
Easter is on the horizon. The bells have gone to Rome and will bring back chocolates, like every year, on Sunday. A moment awaited by all gourmands. Chocolate is one of the most popular sweets, for its taste of course, but according to science, this could also be linked to its effects on the brain. Professor Georges Brousse teaches psychiatry and addictology in Clermont-Ferrand, he is also head of the addictology department. To talk about the effects of chocolate on our brain, there appears to be a distinction between forms of chocolate.”Chocolate which can be said to have a certain number of properties is the one which is very rich in cocoa. It’s dark chocolate that has properties that have been studied.” According to Professor Brousse, these properties have interested researchers for around thirty years and he counts around 7,000 scientific articles on chocolate. If they have focused so much on the question, it is thanks to feedback from consumers noting beneficial effects associated with chocolate: “This interests people because they feel well-being when eating chocolate”indicates the professor.
The scientists first based themselves on this feedback: “What most people describe is that it improves morale. As Easter approaches, the idea of eating chocolate delights us. There is a ‘good for morale’ side. The second element which is quite described is the energetic aspect. It improves cognitive performance. People feel like they are more alert and have a little more energy. Working students, for example, will eat chocolate to study better, to concentrate better. There is a described effect on memory and attention. There is also a calming, anti-stress effect, which has been described,” explains Georges Brousse. Faced with these findings, studies are carried out: “We were interested in 2 things, on the one hand, observing the effect of chocolate on people, those who take it versus those who do not take it, depending on the quantities taken. On the other hand, look at how the brain could react based on the chemical compounds in chocolate.”
Scientists therefore first looked at the chemical composition of chocolate, and a first molecule caught their attention: “It’s a plant that has many compounds. One of the first to attract attention in relation to morale is that chocolate contains a large quantity of an amino acid called tryptophan. It is a precursor of serotonin. In psychiatry, we know serotonin well since it is a neurotransmitter which is particularly involved in depression phenomena and memory phenomena. Moreover, a very significant proportion of antidepressants are serotonergic, therefore increasing serotonin. We can therefore explain the improvement in morale, linked to taking chocolate, by the consumption of tryptophan, a precursor of serotonin. The humoral areas on which this acts are called limbic areas, areas in the center of the brain that regulate morale.describes Professor Brousse.
After this tryptophan, scientists find a form of psychostimulant close to caffeine and theine, theobromine. “It is a psychostimulant compound which will stimulate certain prefrontal areas, which are at the origin of the phenomena of concentration, vigilance, attention”, indicates the addictologist. But the flagship substance which would be at the origin of the improvement of cognitive abilities are flavonoids, “molecules that are also called polyphenols”. He details: “These are substances that have carbon, hydrogen nuclei, and structures called phenolics. Flavonoids have an effect on memory and concentration. The mechanism of action of flavonoids would rather be an antioxidant mechanism and also a mechanism of hyperoxygenation of the brain which probably promotes the dilation of blood vessels and the oxygenation of the brain, therefore the improvement of memory and concentration phenomena.
But this improvement in concentration is not, according to Professor Brousse, the only proven virtue of these molecules: “Flavonoids are not only found in chocolate, but also in other foods, fruits and vegetables. It is found in nature, in St. John’s wort in particular. There have been studies, outside of the brain, on flavonoids, on the effects of reducing mortality and cancer risk linked to taking chocolate. They would show a certain trend towards a reduction in the risk of cancer linked to chocolate and a reduction in cardiovascular mortality. With all that, you still have to be relatively careful”he adds.
It is also because of these flavonoids that chocolate was, for a time, suspected of being a vector of migraines: “Regarding this dilation of brain vessels, a number of reports on the effects of chocolate have questioned the possibility of an increase in migraines with chocolate. Migraine may be hypervascularity of the brain and could be a negative side effect of chocolate. In fact, studies that have looked at the issue of migraine among chocolate eaters have not found any evidence of an increase in cases of migraine. Studies conclude that avoiding chocolate is not a recommendation doctors should give”however, affirms the professor.
Chocolate could also, thanks to its composition, have other soothing virtues: “In chocolate, there are also anandamide-type substances which, to a certain extent, bind to our receptors called cannabinoid receptors. These are not receptors made for cannabis, but receptors that we discovered in the brain on which we know that cannabis binds. Certain compounds in chocolate bind to these receptors in our brain. We can assume that this contributes to the anti-stress effect of chocolate that consumers describe”, explains Georges Brousse. It could also be that consuming chocolate increases our secretion of endorphins. “These are our well-being hormones, the ones we secrete when we exert ourselves physically, for example. The secretion of endorphins is part of our well-being and chocolate would promote it.”
So, a question arises: do all these molecules have an effect on the brain, or is chocolate only a source of well-being because we appreciate the taste and the associated moments? Professor Brousse also studied this question: “Even though there are all these compounds, the effects are not very objective. Some studies tend to demonstrate cognitive effects, effects on memory, morale improvement effects, but a certain number of authors have been interested in a very stupid idea. It is the flavor of the substance and the context in which it is consumed. Easter, Christmas, childhood… These studies look at what chocolate is and what it represents. It is associated with the pleasantness of the flavor and the times when it is consumed. It is no longer the molecules in the chocolate which are at the origin of well-being but it is the memory of the context which improves our capacities, our performances. It’s an effect of context, it’s an effect of memorization, like Proust’s Madeleine if you like.”
But then, it is impossible to explain that these benefits are only associated with dark chocolate, and not with other sweets. According to Professor Brousse, this explanation of the context is not satisfactory: “If it were simply that, there would be no distinction between mixed chocolates and dark chocolate, which has the most compounds and is most associated with these effects. If this is more true for chocolate than for other foods, it is probably because there is a double effect. There is probably the effect of the substances described above which is associated with contextual elements. This association is always true in nature. This is true for medicines, it is also true for drugs. It’s not just the product that has the effect, it’s the product in a context in a given individual.”
According to him, chocolate fits very well into this dynamic. “There are compounds in chocolate that, in a context, cause it to have rather positive effects. It is because chocolate has these compounds that it is pleasant and because it is taken at certain times that our brain retains its effects. He remembers it, giving an augmenting effect and a resorting effect to this substance. Our brain trains. He learns agreeableness, pleasure linked to the consumption of this substance. He does it for drugs, he does it in general. The brain memorizes the effect felt which relieves, which gives pleasure, and associates it with the product. Then he focuses his attention on it and, in a way, he increases the effect produced.”
In the context of addictions, this learning is problematic because the substances gradually lose their effect and create an irrepressible desire to take them, as well as conditions of alienation. Fortunately, there is very little addiction to chocolate, Professor Brousse reassures: “We do not have any so-called ‘addictive’ phenomena to chocolate, described as such, which emerge very blatantly from the scientific literature.” No risk of addiction to consuming chocolate, even if you have to be careful, warns Professor Brousse. “The whole question is also linked to moderation of intake. Anyway, it’s not ‘the more chocolate you eat, the better you perform’. There is a plateau effect. Be especially careful with associated sugars! The more we eat, the more risks we have linked to metabolic effects and effects on hormones regulating blood sugar levels. It’s a risk to eat too much chocolate.”
If we consume it in moderation, chocolate can make us more relaxed, more concentrated, happier, more attentive… And more intelligent? Some, according to Professor Brousse, have also looked into the question : “There is another element which is quite amusing, it is that the very serious New England Journal in 2012, carried out a study to find out if there was a relationship between the consumption of chocolate and the number of Nobel Prizes in a country. They even interviewed Nobel Prize winners about their relationship with chocolate and asked them to each tell the story of how they consumed chocolate and how they thought it could help them improve their intellectual performance.” This study was obviously humorous and, according to the specialist, “not much comes of it, except that the Nobel Prize winners, like almost everyone else, love chocolate!”
If you like chocolate, follow Carinne Teyssandier behind the scenes of a chocolate factory. Before entering the heart of the chocolate factory, you must first set foot on the land of the cocoa tree. To do this, go to the Cité du Chocolat for an immersive and fun visit, during which Carinne undertakes a gourmet journey from the cocoa bean to the bar…
Carinne and the chocolate factory can be found in the show Nos terres gourmandes broadcast every Saturday on France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and at any time on france.tv.