You likely wonder whether it’s simply that time of the month or something you lack. You think your body may need something when you crave a specific food item
You may not only crave the sugar in chocolate. The USDA shows a 44-gram bar of milk chocolate contains 22.7 grams of sugar and 13.1 grams of fat (2). Saturated fat, the less healthy kind, is 8.14 grams.
Research by the University of California and others reviewed over 200 studies, research papers
Eating high-fat, high-sugar hyperpalatable food produces more dopamine, which feeds the brain’s reward system
The research suggests dopamine is involved in human eating behavior and motivation, being capable of forming habits.
A later review of over 100 studies suggests that while the palatability of sweet foods may have hedonic reward value, the authors disagree with the “addiction”
They argue that the controls of food intake in humans are too complex for “addiction” to make sense as a model.