From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chocoholic is a portmanteau of "chocolate" and "alcoholic," referring to an alleged addiction to chocolate.

Etymology

A thorough etymology of the word exhibits most possible morphological processes

• chocoholism is a portmanteau of two English words chocolate and alcoholism. It is not a compound because it is made up of the meaningless segments cho(co) and (co)holism.
• alcoholism is derived from the noun alcohol and the derivational suffix -ism
  • alcohol as "liquor" is the result of a semantic shift from the original meaning, signifying a fine powder
  • alcohol meaning "fine powder" was borrowed from the Arabic al-kuhul.
  • al-kuhul is derived from the root kuhul and the definite inflectional prefix al-
• chocolate is borrowed from Nahuatl xococlatl
  • xococlatl is a compound of two Nahuatl words, xococ, bitter and atl, water. Thus there has been a semantic shift from a word signifying a bitter beverage (similar to coffee) to a sweet candy.

Chemistry

Chocolate contains a variety of substances. These include:

• Sugar - Sweet chocolate (as opposed to chocolate liquor) contains large amounts of sugar.
• Theobromine - Various theobromines are present. Theobromine is chemically similar to caffeine.
• Anandamide - An endogenous cannabinoid which is also naturally produced in the Human brain.
• Tryptophan - An essential amino acid that is a precursor to Serotonin an important neurotransmitter involved in regulating moods.
• Phenylethylamine - A Neurotransmitter from which amphetamine is derived. Often described as a 'love chemical', however it is quickly metabolised by monoamine oxidase, so it has no effect on the central nervous system.

Possible effects

Chocoholism, if maintained, may result in over-consumption of chocolate, which may cause high blood-sugar levels and possibly obesity.

See also

• Sugar addiction
• -holism

External links

• Psychopharmalogical Effects of Chocolate
• How Much Caffeine is in Chocolate?