I heard a few years ago that chocolate has a chemical in it that is identical with a brain hormone, and this often comes up in connection with St. Valentine’s Day when people give chocolate. It was said that this brain hormone makes one feel more or less loving. But then I heard a person say that the brain hormone and the chemical in chocolate were very similar but one atom off! Now I don’t know what to believe. If it is one atom off that could make a big difference! Or it might not. 1) Is the chocolate chemical the same as the brain hormone? Also, 2) what is the name of this chemical?
3) Speaking of brain hormones, I thought there was only acetylcholine, but then they added endorphines, dopamine, and serotonin. Now I hear there are hundreds of brain hormones! Is this true?
To answer number 2, it could be any number of things: triptophan (also found in turkey), phenylethylamine, or anandamide.
Here’s a link that talks about all three: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/hottopics/chocolate/addictive2.shtml
Phenylethylamine is probably the one you mean. As to neurotransmitters, there are about a dozen important ones, but they keep finding more.
As logical as it sounds (chocolate chemically equaling love) its never been shown that eating chocolate raises phenylethylamine levels in the human body.
i thought this was the confusion between tyrosine and tyramine, one being a precursor to dopamine, one not.