According to a new study, frequent consumption of chocolate in women is linked with a lower interest in sex (self-rated).
The study involved 723 men and women in Southern California, ages 20 and older, who completed surveys reporting frequency of chocolate consumption (pieces per week) and interest in sex (rated from 0 to 10).
Chocolate and sex
For sexual interest, participants were asked to rate “interest in sex” (past two weeks), on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 defined as “not present” and 10 defined as “most present.” For chocolate frequency, participants were asked “how many times a week do you consume chocolate?” LDL cholesterol and glucose were also assessed based on sexual interest and chocolate.
The frequency of chocolate consumption was the strongest evaluated predictor of sexual interest in women. No relationship was seen in men, although a trend was seen in younger men.
Popular representations in which chocolate is represented as a substitute for sex and "satisfying" the need for sex in women represents a possible explanation for these findings.
One might speculate that the differential effects on men versus women align with observations that chocolate consumption activates and inhibits different regions of the brain: In men, there is increased taste activation in the ventral striatum, insula, and orbitofrontal and medial orbitofrontal cortex and decreased taste activation in somatosensory areas; in women, increased taste activation in the precentral gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and putamen and decreased taste activation in the hypothalamus and amygdala.
–
The news
Women who eat more chocolate have less interest in sex
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.