Chocoholics ....blame it on bacteria!

Oct 16 2007

The craving chocoholics have for chocolate is according to new research the result of metabolic programming.

In a new study by Swiss and British researchers a link has been found that may explain why some people are addicted to chocolate.

The researchers at Nestle Research Center in Switzerland, suggest a certain type of metabolic profile or metabotype they have discovered, is linked to a person's love for chocolate.

The discovery was the result of a small study involving 11 chocoholics and 11 average chocolate eaters.

The researchers studied the byproducts of the metabolism in their blood and urine and found that a dozen substances were significantly different between the two groups.

Scientist Sunil Kochhar says the study showed that amino acid glycine was higher in chocolate lovers, while taurine, an active ingredient in energy drinks, was higher in people who didn't eat chocolate.

Chocolate lovers also had less of the bad cholesterol, LDL.

Kochhar, the co-author of the study says the research showed that food preferences, including chocolate, might be imprinted into our metabolic system in such a way that the body becomes attuned to a particular diet.

Kochhar who is in charge of metabolism research at the Center in Lausanne, says people who long for chocolates daily also show signs of having different colonies of bacteria than those who are resistant to chocolate's appeal.

It was not determined if the bacteria caused the craving, or if early in life people's diets changed the bacteria, which then reinforced food choices.

Food company Nestle paid for the research which is published in the November 2nd issue of the Journal of Proteome Research.