Scientists find a surprising link of dark chocolate with depression

Recently, a research team conducted a survey to investigate the association between chocolate consumption and depression, the results showed that people who regularly eat dark chocolate have a lower risk of depression. . What does this finding mean and is it reliable? Let's find the answer together

Chocolate, thanks to its delicious taste and health benefits, is loved by many people. However, due to the high sugar and fat content, most people will consume it in moderation, avoiding excessive consumption. In recent years, chocolate has become very popular and has become the focus of quite a bit of research.

New study on the link between dark chocolate and depression

The most recent research on chocolate that is of great public interest is the study of scientists from University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom.

The UCL team collaborated with scientists from the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services Canada. The study was published in the journal Depression & Anxiety under the title "Dark chocolate eaters are less likely to be depressed".

Why target dark chocolate and depression?

Depression is a big problem for global citizens. Currently, depression is treated mainly based on medication and psychological measures. However, these drugs do not work for everyone. In addition, as reported by many current studies, about half of people stop using the drug within 6 weeks of starting treatment. Therefore, the need to find new treatments for depression, such as lifestyle changes, is a priority.

Much research has been done in pursuit of that goal. They found that physical activity can be effective for some people with depression, but it isn't for everyone and not everyone is able to exercise. There are also scientists in the direction of finding dietary interventions to reduce symptoms caused by depression and have made certain achievements.

Dive deeper to learn specifically about the study

According to this research group, many scientists have studied this topic before but have not come to any results due to the limitation of research scope and many other problems. In this study, the scientific team tried to control as much as possible confounding factors such as weight, height, marital status, education, ethnicity, income, education level and health status. other healthy.

At the same time, the team did not use chocolate in general, but divided it into separate dark and non-dark chocolate. This is also a difference compared to previous studies.

The scientists obtained data from the "US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey". After excluding people who were underweight or had diabetes, they included 13,626 people 20 years of age and older in the study.

Surprising results 'those who eat dark chocolate are less likely to be depressed'

After approaching patients and collecting data, the team initially found that 1,323 (11.1%) participants reported eating chocolate, and of these, 148 people ate chocolate. black (Chocolate eaters are more likely to be Hispanic whites and have higher household incomes). After accounting for the associated events, the team concluded that, overall, there was no association between chocolate consumption and a reduction in depressive symptoms.

However, the story changed completely when they only looked at the dark chocolate statistics. The authors report: “Patients who reported consuming dark chocolate had a 70% lower incidence of clinical depressive symptoms than those who reported no use of any kind of chocolate. What chocolate?" They also found that people who ate the most chocolate, regardless of type, had fewer depressive symptoms than those who didn't. You can find dark chocolate here.

What is the significance of this research report?

Perhaps this is great news for chocolate lovers, but the authors spoke out for more and research findings. The study was based on collection and observation only, so the team cannot conclude that chocolate can reduce depression.

Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson from UCL said: “Further research is needed to clarify the cause of this problem – it could be that depression causes people to lose interest in eating chocolate, or there is There may be other factors that make people less likely to eat dark chocolate and become depressed.”

In general, scientists cannot conclude whether eating dark chocolate helps reduce symptoms of depression, we will need to wait for further studies to verify this. But at least, the research has opened up a new direction to explore more in the treatment of depression.

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