Chocolate gives people more of a buzz than passionate kisses: study

British researchers said they were stunned to discover that people get more of a buzz from eating chocolate than passionately kissing their lovers.

"These results really surprised and intrigued us," said psychologist David Lewis, who led a study that recorded brain activity and heart rate from volunteers who tasted pieces of dark chocolate or kissed their partners.

"There is no doubt that chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz -- a buzz that, in many cases, lasted four times as long as the most passionate kiss."

While researchers expected chocolate, especially dark chocolate, to raise heart rates, he said, "both the length of this increase together with the powerful effects it had on the mind were something none of us had anticipated."

The 12 volunteers, all aged in their 20s, wore heart monitors and had electrodes attached to their heads as each placed a piece of dark chocolate on the tongue and, without chewing, indicated when it started to melt.

Couples were later invited to kiss each other in the same way as they would do normally.

The study found that -- at the point chocolate melts in the mouth -- all areas of the brain are stimulated far more intensely and for longer than from kissing.

Chocolate also made the heart beat faster, according to the study supervised by Lewis, a formerly University of Sussex psychologist who now runs a private research company called The Mind Lab.

Some people saw the number of heart beats per minute rise from a resting rate of about 60 to as high as 140. Kissing also made the couples' hearts pound, but not for as long.

Both sexes showed the same responses in the tests.

英国研究人员称，他们惊讶的发现吃巧克力比热烈的亲吻更能让人兴奋。

心理学家大卫·刘易斯说，“研究结果让我们很惊讶，同时也引起了我们的兴趣。”他领导的研究小组对志愿者在吃黑巧克力和亲吻爱人时的脑部活动和心率进行了记录。

“巧克力轻而易举地‘打败’了热吻，能使身体和脑部的兴奋持续更久，在很多情况下，巧克力引起的兴奋持续时间是最热烈的吻的四倍。”

他说，根据研究人员的预想，巧克力，尤其是黑巧克力，可以使心跳加速。“让我们都没想到的是，巧克力不仅使志愿者心跳加速的时间延长，而且还对脑部产生了巨大影响。”

年龄均为20多岁的12名志愿者身上连着心脏监测仪，头上连着电极，然后每个人把一块黑巧克力放在舌头上，不嚼，以便观察它何时开始融化。

之后，研究人员让这些情侣按照平时的方式互相亲吻。

研究发现，在巧克力开始融化的时候，脑部各个区域所受到的刺激要比接吻时强烈得多，而且持续的时间更长。

研究还发现，巧克力还会使心脏跳得更快。负责指导这项研究的刘易斯曾是英国苏塞克斯大学的心理学家，目前正在经营一家名为"大脑实验室"的私人研究公司。

有些人的心脏每分钟搏动次数从静止状态的60次左右增加到140次。亲吻也能使心跳更有力，但持续的时间没那么长。

男性和女性志愿者的试验结果相同。