Effects of Chocolate on the Neurological System of Adolescents with Depression

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The main objective of this paper is to determine, the increase of depression in adolescents aged 16-19 years, in Mexico City, from 2014 to 2018, according to the ‘Morbidity Yearbook’ of the General Directorate of Epidemiology, to understand the importance of focusing our attention on This type of suffering, given that there is currently an increase in this type of ailments, with young people being one of the social groups, in which they predominate. In search of possible solutions, identify the recent studies that allow us to know if there is an effect of chocolate consumption as a natural antidepressant.

This document is organized as follows: the first thing we will present will be the definition of depression as well as the types. Secondly, the comparison between the years 2014 to 2018 of the increase in depression in adolescents (16-19 years) in Mexico City, according to the Mobility Yearbook, which establishes to depression at the top of the top 20 causes of diseases. Then, the neurobiological and pathophysiological effects of depression are considered, as well as are multicausality and, finally, the properties that give chocolate the title of natural antidepressant, according to recent studies, allowing us to determine if these properties have an effect positive in people suffering from depression.

What Is Depression?

Depression for many experts is the most common problem of all mental health problems and with the highest rate in Mexico among adolescents. Depression is a problem in which people’s mood is severely affected. Depression can be described as a feeling of sadness.

Depression, like other diseases, can manifest itself in different ways, in which there can be variations in the number of symptoms, the severity and the persistence of these. There are different types of depression:

Depressive episode: it can start quickly in a few days or more slowly for a few weeks, usually lasting several weeks or even months.
Dysthymia: it usually begins in young adolescents and is persistent, since the symptoms usually last at least a period of 2 years to decades. Some people with this disorder may occasionally experience depressive episodes.
Bipolar depression: it is when the patient suffers both depressive and manic episodes which can occur after having suffered depressive episodes, so the initial diagnosis of unipolar depression should be changed to bipolar disorder. This change in mood can occur very quickly or after months or years of presenting a normal mood. Manic episodes can be identified by excessively elevated mood, hyperactivity, loquacity, restlessness, irritability, and decreased sleep.
Atypical depression: it is characterized by an improvement in the state of mind before actual or potential positive events, while patients with typical depression experience a lack of appetite (often followed by weight loss) and difficulty falling asleep, patients with atypical depression show increased appetite and food intake and increased need for sleep (hypersomnolence).

The justification for the increase in adolescent depression. People with depression feel sad, melancholy, loss, without self-esteem, tired, frustrated and sleep or appetite disorders, reaching the extremes when the idea is suicide as a solution. Because the suicide rate in adolescents has increased, it is the concern about the increase in the prevalence of adolescents with depression in recent years, since it has been influenced by communication networks, the increase of dysfunctional families, lack of opportunities and, mainly because we are living life very fast.

Identified Physiopathological Aspects

The participation of diverse physiopathological aspects that influence the onset of depression is demonstrated. Differences in the size of various brain structures have been found, such as the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex, as well as changes in metabolism and neuronal size and glial density. The participation of the monoamines is duly known.

In a study of 30 adolescents with a first depressive episode, a decrease in the white matter of the hippocampus was found as well as a smaller volume in both hippocampus; the difference was greater in the left hippocampus than in the right hippocampus and finally a right-left hemispheric asymmetry.

In a study of the volume of the orbitofrontal cortex and other prefrontal sub-regions performed with nuclear magnetic resonance, it was found that adolescents with depression under treatment had a 32% lower volume of the orbitofrontal cortex (straight rotation) compared to the control group, without finding other significant differences in the sizes of other subregions.

Since glia has a significant metabolic influence on neurons and contributes to synaptic function and neurotransmission, the results imply that abnormalities of glial function could undermine neuronal function and predispose to major depressive disorder.

However, the mechanism that is still under study, since it has been shown that it is also linked to the hippocampus and modulation in the deregulated neurocircuit.

Factors of Chocolate Biomolecules

By common sense it is known that chocolate is rich in sugars (carbohydrates) hence the idea that is responsible for the hyperactivity in children and tooth decay, however, it is not entirely true. Currently, the composition of industrialized chocolate varies in its concentration, as it is agreed with other ingredients such as milk, fruit, syrups, etc., that make its composition in carbohydrates varies although it is reasonable that this concentration is high.

Chocolate and the Elevation of the Presence of Neurotransmitters

The effect of chocolate as a natural antidepressant has recently been studied through studies, which pose the properties of chocolate, then presents a fragment of one of these studies which raise the present of neurotransmitters such as serotonin. But to have a broader view of the possible benefits of chocolate as a natural antidepressant is important to establish all possible contributions in this field, so we can find that different variables were studied to cover a broader picture of the effect antidepressant of chocolate

Comparison of Studies that Evaluate Chocolate as an Antidepressant

These studies show us that there are a lot of factors in the number of chocolate components that are characterized by an antidepressant effect, as well as the differences that exist in the consumption that the person makes of chocolate and how it also reaches influence. The first study of great relevance for our research is very important because we can identify persistent antidepressant substances in chocolate in relation to different concentrations of cocoa in chocolate, ranging from a concentration of 70 to 100%, establishing the following results. This statement is surprising because there is great controversy regarding the antidepressant of chocolate, but other claims were made in relation to tryptophan. Another study that was considered of great importance for this research is that which states the differences between the consumption of chocolate, letting us know that there is a very broad field in the sense of this research since the results of this study show. The aforementioned allows us to understand that the increase or decrease of the antidepressant effect of chocolate, depends on multiple variables, which allow a better use of the antidepressant effects involved in chocolate consumption, letting us know that there may be a great diversity of possible research let us know a little more about what the factors are, so as in this case the effect of a food is potentialized, letting us see that there may be possible solutions closer to what we can imagine.

The Tendency to Eat ‘Junk Food’ with Negative Moods

Many people tend to overeat when presented with a difficult situation that negatively affects their emotions, it should be mentioned that in general, it is usually junk food such as chips, sweets, chocolate, ice cream etc. however, the opposite can be the case where appetite is lost.

In relation to chocolate when you are presenting an important test, the recommendation that many people give you is that before you eat chocolate or at the end of a relationship and that this affects your emotional stability gives you to eat a delicious chocolate ice cream or any other product derived from chocolate to counteract that feeling.

The Pleasure in the Relationship with the Sensory Properties of Chocolate

All foods have sensory properties that distinguish them from each other, this is what is persisted by the senses: smell, taste, texture, color, etc. However, not all people have the same tastes of types of sensory properties. This can be determined by different factors, one of them the culture as for example, in general, the native people of certain parts of Mexico delight with highly spicy dishes while other people cannot even bear that these dishes have contact with their mouth.

From the moment we are presented with chocolate or any food, as soon as we perceive its smell we begin to delight (the opposite may occur), as when we enter a flower shop and it is so we take for granted that the taste must be satisfactory, forming great expectations. In the case of chocolate in general, it is usually perceived a very intense smell and can vary from chocolate to sweet to the sweetest. The same happens in terms of color and shape of the food there, that restaurants usually have strict rules regarding the presentation of the dish. The chocolate color is usually brown to darker brown, almost black, with reddish tones in some chocolates. When you begin to taste first, the texture is evaluated, it should be noted that here the taste varies in each one. In general, when a piece of a chocolate bar is taken between fingers because of body heat can be easily molded, while being tasted a sticky texture is perceived, soft and crunchy when biting. This is only a possible theory because in people with depression there is a greater intake of chocolate, only one possibility that explains the increase in consumption of chocolate related to mechanisms used by the human body.

Conclusion

From the above, we can establish that the consumption of chocolate may have a deeper background, to consume it, but it is also stated that the consumption of chocolate may be related to. But despite the great importance of magnesium since it allows the regulation of the production of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, other foods contain similar or higher amounts of this nutrient. There have been several studies that have shown that the property of increasing the concentration of neurotransmitters and sensory properties, it can act as an antidepressant because currently, the prevalence of depression in adolescents is increasing.

In conclusion, depression is a current problem, which is increasing significantly, it is also important to consider that this mental disorder is more frequent in young people who have the highest rates of this disease. Being the CDMX where there is a greater number of adolescents with depression. In the search to establish the influence of the substances present in chocolate in chocolate that have an antidepressant effect, we find the possible influence of serotonin which is an important neurotransmitter in the regulation of the mood and the l-enantiomer of the essential amino acid Tryptophan, which is the precursor of the synthesis of serotonin, but all these components, are affected in a considerable way according to various circumstances (percentage of cocoa present in chocolate and if the consumption was carried out conscientiously).

Although chocolate has similar mechanisms to pharmaceutical antidepressants, it has not been proven that it can replace it, because it can also cause problems if it is consumed in excess, since it can cause obesity or overweight due to its high carbohydrate content. There are many myths about the impact of chocolate on the body, both negative and positive, but not all are true.

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