Measuring brain activity in people eating chocolate offers new clues about how the body becomes addicted: “Using positron emission tomography scans to measure brain activity in people eating chocolate, a team of U.S. and Canadian neuroscientists

believe they have identified areas of the brain that may underlie addiction and eating disorders.

…(I)ndividuals’ ratings of the pleasantness of

eating chocolate were associated with increased blood flow in areas of the brain, particularly in the orbital frontal cortex and midbrain, that are also activated by

addictive drugs such as cocaine.

…(T)he brain regions activated

by eating chocolate when it is rewarding are quite different from those areas that are activated by eating chocolate when it is perceived as aversive (as a result of

having eaten too much chocolate).” EurekAlert!