Hot chocolate

The Aztecs believed it. Casanova believed it. Although it has not been scientifically proven that chocolate is an aphrodisiac, there are some good reasons why the notion that chocolate enhances sexual mood has survived for so long.
 
Chemically, chocolate is very stimulating. With over three hundred chemicals, chocolate may have had more in it than you initially thought. It contains serotonin, which affects body temperature, appetite, sleep, sexuality and mood. Low levels of serotonin have been associated with clinical depression, bipolar and anxiety disorders.

“Whether chocolate is able to influence desire or pleasure by modulating serotonin release…it’s not completely clear, but certainly not impossible,” says Dr. George Robertson, professor with Dalhousie’s Department of Pharmacology.

The next clue for the mystery of chocolate’s possible aphrodisiac effect is dopamine, a “reward” transmitter related to serotonin. As a chemical found naturally in the body, dopamine generally elevates mood. It is released by phenylethylamine, another chemical found in…chocolate! 

“Animals anticipating copulation will show a 40 to 50 per cent increase in anticipatory release of dopamine to pleasure areas of the brain,” says Dr. Robertson.

And there’s still one more chemical to mention: theobromine is a mild stimulant of the heart and nervous system, with a mood-improving effect.

The amounts of all the chemicals found in chocolate are rather miniscule. There is so little caffeine in chocolate, for example, that you’d have to eat a dozen chocolate bars before getting the caffeine found in one cup of coffee. With no hard proof to say chocolate is addictive, scientists say the feelings it induces could be psychological. Chocolate cravings are admitted to by 15 per cent of men, and 40 per cent of women.

The Aztecs believed chocolate was an aphrodisiac, and went as far as banning women from eating it. Only priests, warriors and nobility drank chocolate. It was also used in religious ceremonies, since it was associated with the goddess of fertility, Xochiquetzal. Twelve cacao beans, used as a form of currency, could buy you the services of a courtesan. Another connection between chocolate and sex!

Well known for his sexual escapades, the famous alchemist Casanova called chocolate the “elixir of love” and even said it was better than champagne for its stimulating effects.  

Despite the numerous “mood elevating” chemicals and a history of controversy and belief, the power of chocolate remains mysterious. Since scientists cannot agree on the matter, there is only one thing to do: eat a lot of it!

Michelle Hampson is a first-year arts student at Dalhousie.

SEE: The top 10 aphrodisiacs in LiveScience