Chocolate may mimic marijuana in brain

Abstract

Chocolate lovers won't find this news too much of a surprise: rich, sensuous confection contains compounds that turn on the same receptor in the brain as marijuana. Biochemist Daniele Piomelli and coworkers at the Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, have isolated small quantities of anandamide—the ethanolamide of arachidonic acid—from chocolate and cocoa powder [Nature, 382, 677 (1996)]. compound is thought to be the natural ligand for the cannabinoid receptor, the receptor that binds tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and is responsible for the high induced by marijuana. The discovery of anandamide in chocolate is totally unexpected and may be relevant to the well-known 'chocolate craving,' comments Raphael Mechoulam, professor of medicinal chemistry at Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Mechoulam first discovered anandamide in pig brain in 1992, naming it from the Sanskrit word ananda, meaning bliss. chocolate research is something of a side trip for the researchers at the Neurosciences Institute, w...