My friend says she's a chocaholic and is addicted to it - can you get addicted, or is it just an excuse for lack of willpower?

I think there are several addictive chemicals in chocolate.

I have to work hard to not eat it constantly.

I have a friend who can ignore all sorts of sweets and cakes, but binges on chocolate.

Sometimes i find myself thinking about it all day long....(chocolate that is!)

I could do without crisps and cakes and donuts and all kind of stuff, but not chocolate!

no its true. i can and have eaten a whole tin of quality street before now...the small ones dont worry! even when i was a stick insect i did. yum yum. enjoyed every mouthfull xx

i on the other hand can do with out my choc, but not my crisps and cakes

thats where i struggle

There's a few components of chocolate that make it addictive to us. Chocolate releases the “happy” hormone serotonin in our brains, and if we eat it when we're particularly low during the day - say in the afternoon when our serotonin levels are low – then it gives us a “lift”.

It's this lift that we get addicted to.

Apparently if you eat it early in the morning, like at breakfast, you can help stop your cravings because in the morning you have high serotonin levels and your body doesn't “need” it – thus, cutting out the link between chocolate and that good, uplifting feeling.

There's another idea that chocolate is addictive only to certain people – which is why you don't have such a problem and your friend does.