# Why do women like chocolate so much? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 16, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654 "2009-05-16T16:56:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/41 "2009-05-17T23:40:26Z")
I’m a woman, and I’m not particularly big on chocolate. Some good dark chocolate is nice now and then, but I don’t seek it out and I’d definitely prefer the bacon cheeseburger. I think it’s just a stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/42 "2009-05-17T23:42:46Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Cocoa, not chocolate. Cocoa by itself is very bitter (try baking chocolate for a taste.) So, while I admit mixing it with sugar may not be the best thing you can do for your health, a piece of dark chocolate (the darker the better) may actually be good for you, in moderation of course. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/43 "2009-05-18T00:39:54Z")
There is plenty of scientific evidence showing that there are sex differences in how we react to chocolate. This thread also presents a lot of anecdotal evidence that men like chocolate too/more – which is completely worthless for a whole variety of reasons. No one is making a claim that all women love chocolate or that men don’t ever love chocolate, or any other silly idea. (Though admittedly the OP’s tone comes off as a bit misogynistic.) Women’s brains react differently to chocolate, which means there is almost certainly going to be a difference in desire for chocolate between men and women. Given the existence of the stereotype and the amount of marketing aimed at women vs men by chocolate companies, it’s unlikely that men are actually and counter-intuitively the sex that are more into chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/44 "2009-05-18T07:07:25Z")
I’m a man (last I checked), and I _love_ chocolate. I have even been known to consume an entire box of the stuff when my willpower was taking the day off. My wife much prefers salty snacks, which are a waste of calories in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/45 "2009-05-18T07:13:02Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > Given the existence of the stereotype and the amount of marketing aimed at women vs men by chocolate companies, it’s unlikely that men are actually and counter-intuitively the sex that are more into chocolate. But the OP didn’t just claim “chocolate is more popular among women”, he claimed “most men have no particular love of chocolate,” unlike the “birds” and “heifers” as he charmingly refers to them. I say that’s bull. _Most_ people love chocolate, it’s just that some love it more than others. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/46 "2009-05-18T07:33:33Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > Given the existence of the stereotype and the amount of marketing aimed at women vs men by chocolate companies, it’s unlikely that men are actually and counter-intuitively the sex that are more into chocolate. So because people think it’s true, it’s true? What then, is the evolutionary explanation for black people liking menthol cigarettes and Latinos liking airbrushed tee shirts. Oh wait, there are none. These are a combination of stereotypes and marketing niches. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/47 "2009-05-18T09:59:37Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > So because people think it’s true, it’s true? What then, is the evolutionary explanation for black people liking menthol cigarettes and Latinos liking airbrushed tee shirts. Oh wait, there are none. These are a combination of stereotypes and marketing niches. No. Please read more carefully. Given that there are scientifically proven differences in brain activity between males and females after eating chocolate, it’s extremely probable that there are, to some degree, differences in desire for chocolate as well, regardless of it being societal conditioning or genetics. Such a difference is _highly_ likely to be reflected in our stereotypes. It’s far more logical and probable that our stereotypes are correct than that they are the opposite of reality. What _is_ somewhat offensive is your barely disguised accusation of racism because I dare to say that a stereotype might have some basis in reality. If you can’t contribute something other than an insult based on your lack of critical thinking, maybe you should refrain from commenting. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/48 "2009-05-18T16:30:40Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > that can’t be right, it’s the heffers who like chocolate the most! [Moderator note] Let’s refrain from these kinds of remarks in GQ. > [@even\_sven](#): > > So because people think it’s true, it’s true? What then, is the evolutionary explanation for black people liking menthol cigarettes and Latinos liking airbrushed tee shirts. Oh wait, there are none. These are a combination of stereotypes and marketing niches. > [@ivn1188](#): > > What _is_ somewhat offensive is your barely disguised accusation of racism because I dare to say that a stereotype might have some basis in reality. If you can’t contribute something other than an insult based on your lack of critical thinking, maybe you should refrain from commenting. [Moderator note] Let’s dial back the rhetoric, please. Several posters have presented factual information regarding biological differences between men and women in how they respond to chocolate. Let’s keep this discussion factual. This is a reminder of GQ standards. No warnings issued. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/49 "2009-05-18T16:38:24Z")
I don’t know the answer to this question. I don’t like chocolate myself, and don’t know if there’s an explanation for the women and chocolate thing. I just thought people in general liked chocolate because it’s sweet. What I do know is this \*\*Chimera \*\*dude is crazy. > [@Chimera](#): > > I’m a guy and I think Dark Chocolate is the greatest food related item in existence. > > Better than Bacon, better than Pizza. Rubbish! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/50 "2009-05-18T16:55:13Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I don’t like chocolate myself That must be why you’re so mean! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/51 "2009-05-18T17:00:09Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I heard a doctor once say if chocolate were discovered today, it would be considered a health food…high in anti-oxidants. There was also some hype going around some years back about chocolate retarding [tooth decay.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/892591.stm) ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/52 "2009-05-18T17:04:48Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > That must be why you’re so mean! 😉 It’s a combination of that and the kids on my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/53 "2009-05-20T06:50:16Z")
My understanding is that while all cultures have their comfort foods, female preferences for chocolate are not universal. In Spain, for example, chocolate isn’t especially popular. > [@Mary L. Meck Higgins](#): > > Gender differences for love of chocolate have been reported. In a U.S. study on food cravings, men preferred protein foods, such as pizza or meat, while women were 22 times more likely to choose chocolate. Another study compared food cravings among men and women in the U.S. and Spain. In both countries, more men (60%) craved salty or meat-containing foods while more women (60%) craved sweets. Among sweet cravers, chocolate craving was much more frequent for American females (45%) than for American males (17%), **but no such gender difference occurred for the Spaniards (29 and 22%). Thus, chocolate cravings seem to be culturally influenced.** These results do not support a physiological basis (such as fluctuations in women’s hormones during the menstrual cycle) for chocolate craving. [Emphasis added](http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/Dp_fnut/_timely/Chocolate.htm). I see that the “Women like sweets” hypothesis remains, however. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/54 "2009-05-20T07:44:58Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > My understanding is that while all cultures have their comfort foods, female preferences for chocolate are not universal. In Spain, for example, chocolate isn’t especially popular. Chocolate isn’t popular? Remind me to take a couple pics of my supermarket’s shelves… What your own quote says is that “the popularity of chocolate in Spain is similar among males and females.” But if chocolate wasn’t popular, there wouldn’t be a rush every time the supermarket gets a delivery of Nestlé Chocolate Mousses, and there is. I also wonder about how did they study “chocolate cravings.” A very large amount (possibly over 90%) of Spanish children have chocolate milk (Colacao or Nesquik) for breakfast every day. One of the things my Scottish colleagues discovered when they spent a month working in Bilbao was the amazing notion of “making your hot cocoa with milk instead of water.” Chocolate con churros is a national dish. Nutella sandwiches and bollicaos (a brand of nutella-filled buns) are very popular mid-afternoon snacks. Asking a Spaniard whether he ever “needs to have chocolate _now_” may be a bit like asking a duck whether his feet ever get dry. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/55 "2009-05-20T07:54:31Z")
Nava: I seem to recall a study indicating that Spanish women had a food craving that superseded that of chocolate. (No cite.) Does this accord with your experience? At any rate, this is a better reference: > [@](#): > > The Cultural Connection: Cross-cultural research demolishes the dictum that women universally crave chocolate. While women in Egypt, Spain and the U.S. tend to crave sweeter foods than men, the hankering for chocolate varied, and men and women in Spain were equally likely to crave it. **Egyptian women, by contrast, couldn’t care less about cocoa** (only 6% named chocolate as their most favoured food) (Appetite. 2003 Apr; 40(2):193-5). [Emphasis added](http://www.nestle.ca/en/articles/general_food_information/cravings_survey.htm): Neither relative nor absolute female craving for chocolate is pronounced in all cultures. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/56 "2009-05-20T07:59:25Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Nava: I seem to recall a study indicating that Spanish women had a food craving that superseded that of chocolate. (No cite.) Does this accord with your experience? Again, I’m not sure whether those studies are taking into account correctly the enormouos amount of chocolate that many Spaniards consume, plus there’s the usual problem with self-reporting. If you ask my mother what foods does she miss (she’s diabetic), she’ll say sweet pastries. Running an inventory off the top of my head, right now there’s in the house the following things that she eats and I don’t: - orange-filled chocolate (Lindt) - strawberry-filled chocolate (Lindt) - a Nestlé red box - a box of Trapa chocolates - sugar-free chocolates (which I brought for her from a store in Bilbao) - milk chocolate (two different brands) She misses croissants. She sure can’t be missing chocolate! ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/57 "2009-05-20T08:07:52Z")
## Huh. So Spaniards don’t crave chocolate any more than I crave chicken (which I eat all the time.) I have to agree that we’re encountering some methodological problems. (Incidentally, I came across another article which indicated that the Brits eat far more chocolate than residents of Spain, which seems scary in light of Nava’s remarks.) **And speaking of methodological problems** … As to why women like chocolate that much, [Positron emission tomography (PET) scans](http://topnews.us/content/22657-women-have-less-inhibitory-control-over-food-cravings) indicate that women have less inhibitory control over food cravings and positron emission tomography scans do not lie. Though on occasion they may be over-interpreted by imaginative reporters. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/58 "2009-05-20T08:30:00Z")
Per person chocolate consumption does indeed [vary by country](http://www.chokladkultur.se/facts.htm). The Swiss eat of 10kg per year, the Brits munch on 8kg, Americans consume 5kg, and [according to this link](http://www.confectionerynews.com/Formulation/Brits-top-European-chocolate-rankings), Spaniards nibbled at only 1.7kg of the stuff in 2003. Obviously, there will be a great deal of individual variation within each country. And a serious treatment of the subject would examine the underlying data. But a \>5x variation from Spain to Switzerland seems pronounced. I wonder whether US state data would show anything. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/59 "2009-05-20T16:20:31Z")
Did you see the posts on the last page discussing brain differences across the sexes in response to chocolate satiety? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654/60 "2009-05-20T18:27:06Z")
Hmmm, let’s see, bacon or chocolate? Why [choose](http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/product/bacon_exotic_candy_bar/exotic_candy_bars)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-women-like-chocolate-so-much/496654.md?page=4)