Chocolate is love. Chocolate is Marijuana

For boys who like girls, they usually get chocolates for gifts. Why is this so? It’s not just because it’s sweet to give sweets. In order to attract someone, you have to make him or her feel a certain tinge of happiness. That’s what chocolates do. They make girls happy. How does this happen?

Chocolates like any other kind of food contain various substances. It contains phenylethylamine, which is responsible for the feeling of being in love when eating chocolates. Probably you’re not really in love. You just feel happy due to the effects of phenylethylamine.

Another glee-bringing content of chocolate is anandamide. From a Sanskrit word meaning eternal bliss anandamide is also present in marijuana. It is the alleged compound for the receptors on nerve cells to which tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient of marijuana binds. Anandamide is known to be naturally present in the brain. Other chemicals also play a role in restraining the breakdown of anandamide, producing a longer feeling of happiness.

Aside from anandamide and phenylethylamine, theobromine is also present in chocolates. It is a caffeine-like stimulant that has similar effects with the first two compounds mentioned. According to some studies, these substances cause those amazing feeling of joy and excitement upon consumption of chocolate. So if ever you might feel bored or depressed, you might as well take a dose of cocoa and be high!

You + Beer.. What happens next?

Do you know that when you take alcohol inside your body it becomes a chemical compound similar to formalin? Formalin is the substance used in embalming.  Yikes! And then, it becomes a substance that is responsible for the acidity and unpleasant smell of vinegar.  How does this happen?

When you take beer for example, which is approximately 5% ethanol, the alcohol is first converted to acetaldehyde.  Acetaldehyde is a substance similar to formalin in a way that they have the same functional group – they are both aldehydes.  The conversion of ethanol to acetaldehyde is shown by the equation below.

                                                                                                ADH1B

CH3CH₂OH ------------------------> CH₃CHO

Acetaldehyde is an unstable compound that can become harmful if not stabilized by antioxidants such as vitamins C and E.  Because of its wavering structure, acetaldehyde must be turned into a substance with a more stable structure.  And so, aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) helps the acetaldehyde become acetic acid.  Acetic acid now is a less harmful substance.  It is the main component of vinegar.  The transformation of acetaldehyde into acetic acid is shown by the equation:

                                                                                                ALDH2

                                                                CH₃CHO-------------------------> CH₃COOH

It is still not normal however to have a large amount of acetic acid inside your gut.  Luckily our body has troubleshooters that would bring acetic acid to the normal course of the cell cycle.  Acetic acid is converted to acetyl-CoA by the enzyme ACSS2.  It has now been transformed into its safest form and acetyl-CoA which is a precursor of the body’s normal activities now joins the citric acid cycle or the Kreb’s cycle and later become energy released from each cycle in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

                                                CH₃COOH -----> Acetyl-CoA -> -> -> energy!!!!!