Chocolate

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, chocolate is used to protect against Dementor-induced depression. As it happens, there are scientific reasons for this sanatory use of chocolate.

Traditional chocolate-based remedies were mostly hocus-pocus. But there could be a scientifically based reason why stressed humans continue to reach for some melt-in-the-mouth comfort, according to the Sydney psychiatrist Professor Gordon Parker. Chocolate can trigger the same chemical reactions as some anti-depressant drugs, he says.

Eating chocolate triggers the same chemical response in the brain as powerful anti-anxiety drugs like Prozac and Zoloft, researchers say. Professor Gordon Parker of the University of NSW, whose study is published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, says depressed people who eat chocolate may in fact be self-medicating and using chocolate as a sort of ersatz anti-depressant. Professor Parker, director of the NSW Black Dog Institute, says eating chocolate sets off a hormonal and chemical reaction in the body that mirrors the action of a particular class of anti-depressant drugs known as SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors). When the carbohydrates and sugar in the chocolate hit the digestive system they flood the brain with feel-good hormones, or endorphins. They also release peptides from the gut and brain, which have an anti-depression effect, and contain a chemical called L-tryptophan which is similar to an SSRI drug.