Issue date: 2/13/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Patrick Clayton [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Christine Soriaga [Click to enlarge]

Valentine's chocolates do more than say "I love you."

Texas A&M psychology professor Antonio Cepeda-Benito said his research on chocolate cravings has had unexpected results. The research suggested that though women report the regular positive emotions associated with chocolate such as comfort and satisfaction, it can have negative emotional effects as well. For some women, this sweetly enticing dessert evokes guilt and anxiety rooted in body image issues.

The study engaged two groups of U.S. and Spanish college women identified as "high cravers" and "low cravers," according to the Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait, which was developed by Benito and is widely used throughout Europe.

The women were shown three different categories of pictures - one set to induce positive feelings, the second to provoke negative feelings and third of chocolate. The assumption was high cravers would react positively to their object of desire but that, Benito said, is where the experiment got interesting.

Benito said the subjects' reactions were measured by common arousal indicators; heart rate, skin conductance in the form of increased perspiration and "the startle response" associated with viewing negative images.

Both high and low cravers displayed positive reactions, categorized by lower heart rate, to the positive images and negative reactions, categorized by increased heart rate, perspiration and startle response to the negative images. However, Benito said the chocolate images produced only positive feelings for low cravers while producing positive and negative feelings for women labeled high cravers.

These findings suggested this tempting dessert entails a more complicated relationship for some women.

"Chocolate represents an inherent conflict within these high-craving women," Benito said. "They desire it, but at the same time might have a problem controlling it."

Junior sociology major Amanda Yarbrough, a self-proclaimed low craver, illustrated one of the positive feelings chocolate can stir up for its consumers.

"Chocolate is like my comfort food," Yarbrough said. "It makes me happy, especially M&Ms because I like the colors."

Freshman biomedical science major Amanda Moreno said chocolate does not have a negative effect on her either.

"Chocolate makes me feel warm and cozy," she said. "It reminds me of home."

Reasons the pictures of chocolate represented negative feelings for the high cravers in the study included the feeling of guilt for giving in to temptation, a fear of weight gain and a resentment of the lack of control to resist the cravings.

Despite the findings of Benito's research, one should not cross chocolate off the Valentine's Day gift list. He concluded chocolate is beneficial to women, high and low cravers alike.

The key, he suggested, is moderation and balancing a complete diet and exercise while listening and obeying cravings when they come up. Complete restriction eventually leads to over-indulging and the opportunity for the negative feelings of guilt and anxiety to surface.

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