Is chocolate really an aphrodisiac?

by Cookthink

So deeply rooted is our belief in chocolate's romantic properties that it's become a cliché to offer chocolates to a beloved. Blame it on the Aztecs. They may have been the first to push the notion that chocolate put would-be lovers in an amorous mood. Modern science has looked at the question of whether or not chocolate is really an aphrodisiac, investigating the hope that chemicals found in high-quality chocolate act as mood enhancers that could theoretically increase sexual desire. But if chocolate contains both tryptophan (a component of the brain chemical serotonin that has an effect on sexual arousal) and phenylethylamine (a stimulant that gets released when we "fall" in love), evidence is scant that the traces found in chocolate can actually increase sexual desire. While it is said to have done the trick for Casanova and Montezuma, research suggests that women are more susceptible to the mood-altering effects of chocolate. And some recent studies have claimed that the chocolate-lover may get more amorous pleasure out of eating it than actually having sex.