Falling for chocolate on Valentine's Day

Australians are expected to spend around $485 million this Valentine’s Day, according to the latest research from the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), in conjunction with Roy Morgan. While flowers remain the most popular gift in Australia (42%); many will also give chocolates/food (29%).

The tradition of chocolates for Valentine’s Day is thought to have started back in 1861 when confectionery maker Richard Cadbury packaged chocolates in heart-shaped boxes decorated with rosebuds and Cupids.

Apart from the beautiful packaging, there may actually be some science behind the reason why many turn to chocolate as a gift on the day known for celebrating love. Joshua Lambert, professor of food science at Penn State, explains more about chocolate and its effects on us.

“I’m not a historian, so I can’t tell you much about the history of chocolate and Valentine’s Day, but I will say that the process of eating chocolate hits our brain’s reward system the same way love does,” he said.

“It’s pleasant to eat chocolate. It tastes good, it has fats and sugars, and therefore signals the reward pathways in our brains. There’s a biological, evolutionary reason for that. Your body needs fats and sugars to function — and, in terms of evolution, we also need companionship. So, I think to the extent that chocolate is or should be linked to Valentine’s Day, it has to do with our neurology. We are giving the people we care about something that, when they eat it, will make them feel good.”

Lambert’s research focuses on diet, specifically adopting dietary practices to prevent cancer, obesity and inflammation. He has worked extensively with cocoa, the key ingredient in chocolate, and said that chocolate does have health benefits.

“The human studies that have been done with chocolate seem promising. As far as their effects on cardiovascular disease and other inflammatory health issues, I would say at a minimum it doesn’t seem like there’s any association between eating chocolate and getting diabetes or other health problems — as long as you’re eating chocolate within normal consumption patterns. Chocolate is not the bogeyman of bad health that we all heard about as kids.

“The approach I’ve taken in terms of answering the question ‘how much chocolate should I eat?’ or ‘what kind of chocolate should I eat?’ is to think about it in terms of your overall health. The best thing you can do is have a diet with lots of fruits and vegetable, gets lots of exercise and don’t smoke. Then, when you go to have what I call ‘indulgence foods’, you can put chocolate in place of something else,” Lambert said.

“If you’re eating lots of indulgence foods all the time and you don’t eat very many fruits and vegetables, you don’t exercise and you smoke, then probably adding some chocolate on top of that is not going to help you with your health issues. But if you have a generally healthy diet and lifestyle and you’re craving a treat, I’d recommend reaching for chocolate.

“At this point, any chocolate, in moderation, is a good choice if you’re craving something sweet.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Marilyn Nieves