Young couples volunteered to have their hearts and brains monitored and were then asked to melt dark chocolate in their mouths before kissing their partners.

The research was led by Dr David Lewis, formerly of the University of Sussex, and now of the Mind Lab. "These results really surprised and intrigued us," he said. "While we fully expected chocolate - especially dark chocolate - to increase heart rates due to the fact it contains some highly stimulating substances, both the length of the increase, together with the powerful effects it had on the mind, were something none of us had anticipated."

The romantically attached volunteers who were all aged in their 20s, had electrodes hooked up to them by scientists as they put a piece of dark chocolate on their tongue and, without chewing, indicated when it started to melt. The couples then had to kiss each other the way they normally would.

The scientist also compared their resting heart rates with those where they had the chocolate and kissing tests. The discovery was that even the most passionate kisses were no match to the buzz chocolate can give. At the point which the chocolate was melting in the mouth, all regions of the brain were stimulated far more intensely and lasted way longer than the mental excitement they got from kissing. The lumps of chocolate also allegedly made the heart beat faster.

And albeit the fact that more women love chocolate, and not to mention, are more romantic, both sexes yielded the same results.

"There is no doubt that chocolate beats kissing hands down when it comes to providing a long-lasting body and brain buzz - a buzz that, in many cases, lasted four times as long as the most passionate kiss," said Dr Lewis.

Chocolate is known to have several substances that give natural high, namely phenylethylamine, which is elicited when we are in love, theobromine, and caffeine.

The study used a 60% cocoa dark chocolate. "You'd think people would be shy about kissing in a laboratory, but that wasn't the case at all. We're not talking about a quick peck here," said a spokeswoman for the chocolate makers.

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Joanna Maligaya

Staff Writer/Content Developer at Chocolate University Online

Ever since she can remember, Joanna has always considered chocolate as the ultimate food for her soul. She believes in the saying, “9 out of 10 people love chocolate, and the 10th always lies.”

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