CHOCOHOLICS beware: your favourite food contains substances that help produce
alcoholics’ cravings for booze.
These “neuroactive” alkaloids, known as tetrahydro-beta-carbolines, are
produced when our bodies metabolise beer, wine or spirits. Now researchers at
the Spanish Council for Scientific Research in Madrid have found these alkaloids
in chocolate at concentrations as high as 7 micrograms per gram (Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry, vol 48, p 4900).
“I don’t know if chocolate is really addictive,” says Tomas Herraiz, “but the
cravings are real.” This might explain why rats drink less alcohol if given
chocolate, he adds. On the other hand,…
