# Effects of chocolate and sugar. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083 "2004-06-13T05:40:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clancy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Clancy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clancy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/1 "2004-06-13T05:40:46Z")
Does chocolate do anything to you besides make you fat and does sugar do anything else to you besides mess up your teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/2 "2004-06-13T10:51:34Z")
It tastes good and releases a whole bunch of funky chemicals into your brain that makes you happy. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/3 "2004-06-13T11:00:03Z")
Chocolate is loaded with [caffeine](http://web1.caryacademy.org/chemistry/rushin/StudentProjects/CompoundWebSites/1998/Caffeine/effects.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/4 "2004-06-13T12:51:48Z")
Sugar does funky things to your blood sugar, insulin and adrenalin levels. Last Friday I was depressed about my job ending, and broke my low-carb diet by binging on a whole bunch of sugar. Felt wonderful until about 18 hours later the next day, when I suffered from a “hangover”: sick sweats, nausea, dizziness, and a killer headache. Will I ever learn? (probably not) ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/5 "2004-06-13T15:07:28Z")
Unsweetened chocolate will not make you fat. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/6 "2004-06-13T15:29:33Z")
Unsweetened chocolate will make you fat eventually. 1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate has 16 grams of fat and 8 grams of carbs (4 of which is dietary fiber). Both chocolate and sugar provide your body with energy to some degree. Sugar doesn’t have any vitamins. It is purely a carbohydrate. Chocolate has some vitamin c and some iron, but in pretty small amounts. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/7 "2004-06-13T15:34:24Z")
I should add that since there are about 28 grams in an ounce, unsweetened chocolate is about 56% fat. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/8 "2004-06-13T16:11:56Z")
I’d be really interested if someone could refer me to webinfo on how sugar (saccharose, glucose-syrup) affects the human body. I hear it has been called a hard drug, in the sense that just like nicotine, a dose of sugar creates a physical craving for even more sugar. That might give a \*\*\*physical \* \*\* explanation why it is so hard to take “just one cookie”. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/9 "2004-06-13T19:29:17Z")
Chocolate (dark chocolate, not white chocolate) has antioxidants and, in that respect, is good for you. There are very few edibles that are either all bad or all good, and chocolate has the tilt to the good side. In moderation, of course, as in all things. In addition to the antioxidants, chocolate contains stearic fat. > **[Global Petcare, Food, Mars Wrigley and Edge Brands | Mars, Incorporated](https://www.mars.com/)** [http://www.eatwild.com/articles/confused.html](http://www.eatwild.com/articles/confused.html) > **[Global Petcare, Food, Mars Wrigley and Edge Brands | Mars, Incorporated](https://www.mars.com/)** ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/10 "2004-06-13T19:32:51Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I’d be really interested if someone could refer me to webinfo on how sugar (saccharose, glucose-syrup) affects the human body. > > I hear it has been called a hard drug, in the sense that just like nicotine, a dose of sugar creates a physical craving for even more sugar. > > That might give a \*\*\*physical \* \*\* explanation why it is so hard to take “just one cookie”. I believe that we become addicted to sugar because of our misspent youth. Well, Adelle Davis blamed it on that, anyway, as far as her unfortunate cancer was concerned. As children, we are given too many sweets, and continue to crave sweets unless and until we can wean ourselves away. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/11 "2004-06-13T19:47:55Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I’d be really interested if someone could refer me to webinfo on how sugar (saccharose, glucose-syrup) affects the human body. > > I hear it has been called a hard drug, in the sense that just like nicotine, a dose of sugar creates a physical craving for even more sugar. > > That might give a \*\*\*physical \* \*\* explanation why it is so hard to take “just one cookie”. Well, [here’s](http://health.howstuffworks.com/diabetes1.htm) a good overview on how the body produces insulin in response to food. And [here’s](http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4467) what the American Heart Association says about carbohydrate craving: > [@](#): > > What is “carbohydrate craving” or “carbohydrate addiction?” > > These terms are used in a theory about the relationship between carbohydrate, insulin and appetite. (The body uses the hormone insulin to convert sugar, starch and other foods into energy.) We know that eating carbohydrate raises insulin, which then lowers blood sugar. This causes a desire (or craving) for more food and, in some people, carbohydrate. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effects-of-chocolate-and-sugar/250083/12 "2004-06-14T12:01:27Z")
When I cut chocolate and sugar out of my diet, my skin clears up and becomes amazing. This pisses me off, because I adore chocolate. I hope it is more the sugar at fault (though chocolate contains sugar). That said, when I cut these things out of my diet, I also tend to add more vegetables etc in. So it could be that I was lacking nutrients on the choc/sugar diet, and this resulted in bad skin.