Chocolate is a universal comfort food. It makes you forget your worries while it's in your mouth and afterwards leaves you feeling temporarily uplifted. But apart from its reputation for helping the blues in popular culture, little scientific research exists to confirm chocolate's actual role in altering mood.

Recently, researchers at the University of California delved into the topic¹. They asked 1,000 men and women about their chocolate consumption, and measured their levels of sadness on a standard scale. It was found that sad individuals ate about nine servings of chocolate a month, while those who weren't sad ate about five. Those who scored highest on the mood tests-indicating severe sadness-ate the most chocolate: almost 12 servings a month. The authors concluded that feeling blue is significantly related to higher chocolate consumption.

Eating excessive amounts of chocolate could be a psychological response to having a low mood. The researchers pointed out that because it's thought to improve mood, sad people may be “self-medicating” by eating more chocolate.

Chocolate is known to trigger the release of certain feel-good chemicals, called endorphins, in the brain. It's also a rich source of antioxidants, which offer health benefits beyond boosting mood, including cardiovascular and cognitive health support. Eating small amounts of chocolate-particularly dark chocolate-can be healthy for you. I suggest eating dark chocolate with 60 to 80 percent cocoa so as to get more chocolate while limiting the intake of sugar.

If you're feeling chronically sad and notice yourself regularly binging on chocolate, you may want to examine your mood and consider other options. There are a number of nutrients that may help support healthy mood including omega-3 EPA and DHA essential fatty acids, SAM-e, 5-HTP and St. John's Wort.

As always, to your good health,
Dr. Allen S. Josephs


1. Rose N, Koperski S, Golomb B. Chocolate and Depressive Symptoms in a Cross-sectional Analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(8):699-703.