Consumption of chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, may help to reduce the symptoms of depression according to a new study.
The study titled “Is there a relationship between chocolate consumption and symptoms of depression?” published in the Journal Depression and Anxiety, on 29 July 2019 looked at whether a different type of chocolate might be linked to reduced depressive symptoms.
Actually, chocolate is already known for its mood-enhancing properties supported by a few studies & association. However, there is a lack of high‐quality scientific evidence to support such an association. Moreover, previous studies have not examined the association with depression according to the type of chocolate consumed.
The present study, therefore, aimed to examine the relationship between chocolate consumption and symptoms of depression in a large.
Let’s try to find out how this study was carried out on US citizen, what results lead researchers to conclude that, specifically, dark chocolate can help ease depression.
Let’s find out.
What made researchers to carry out this study?
And according to WHO, 2018, depression is a serious, common, and recurring disorder that currently affects more than 300 million people worldwide.
Being a physiotherapist, I get to see lots of aging patient in our center, most of them suffer from depression for one or the other reason.
Currently, the two main treatment options for depression are:
- Antidepressant medications and
- Short‐term psychotherapies, such as cognitive‐behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, or problem‐solving therapy.
Out of these two, antidepressants are generally the most commonly prescribed treatment, but there’s a catch.
Patient adherence is relatively low, with as many as half of patients prescribed these medications discontinuing their use within 6 weeks of starting treatment.
However, lifestyle changes such as physical activity has very positive effect in depression. In addition, dietary factors also has seen to be very beneficial in reducing the symptoms of depression.
One commonly consumed foodstuff is chocolate, which is popular for its mood‐enhancing properties. Several mechanisms for a relationship between chocolate and mood have been proposed, including chocolate’s orosensory properties, psychoactive ingredients, and activation of neural reward pathways.
However, there is a lack of high‐quality scientific evidence to support such an association. Only a small number of studies have analyzed associations between chocolate consumption and depressive symptoms, with mixed findings.
The present study, therefore, specifically, we were interested in:
- The association between chocolate consumption (any dark chocolate, chocolate but not dark chocolate, none) and depressive symptoms among all adults, and
- The association between the amount of chocolate consumption and depressive symptoms.
Research methodology
The total number of 13,626 participants whose age was more than 20 years were included in the study. All the relevant data were collected from The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2007–08 and 2013–14.
Actually, The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was designed to provide estimates of the prevalence of health, nutrition, and potential risk factors among the civilian noninstitutionalized US population.
From this data, researchers reviewed two kinds of information:
- Exposure to chocolate consumption: Daily chocolate consumption was derived from two 24‐hr dietary recalls
- It’s outcome on depressive symptoms: Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire, with scores ≥10 indicating the presence of clinically relevant symptoms.
What researchers found?
Overall, 11.1% of the population reported any chocolate consumption, with 1.4% reporting dark chocolate consumption. Although non‐dark chocolate consumption was not significantly associated with clinically relevant depressive symptoms.
But, significantly lower clinically relevant depressive symptoms were observed among those who reported consuming dark chocolate.
Analyses are further established by the result which demonstrates the amount of chocolate consumption. The participants reporting chocolate consumption in the highest quartile had 57% lower odds of depressive symptoms than those who reported no chocolate consumption after adjusting for dark chocolate consumption.
Conclusion
These results provide some evidence that consumption of chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, may be associated with reduced odds of clinically relevant depressive symptoms.
Source:
Research topic “Is there a relationship between chocolate consumption and symptoms of depression?” First published: 29 July 2019; Journal of Depression & Anxiety: https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22950
Dr Sunit Sanjay Ekka is a physiotherapist in practice for the last 15 years. He has done his BPT from one of the premium Central Government physiotherapy colleges, ie, SVNIRTAR. The patient is his best teacher and whatever he gets to learn he loves to share it on his Youtube channel and blog.
