Delicious LiveJournal Links for 4-27-2010

[andrewducker]

• Chocolate lovers are more depressive.
  I'm actually amazed how little the average person eats
  (tags: food chocolate depression psychology)
• Airspace Rebooted - a visualisation of how European airspace started back up again after the volcano
  (tags: visualization video europe airplanes)
• Who can afford to perform at the Edinburgh festival? And why have the costs spiralled in the last 5 years?
  (tags: festival edinburgh fringe theatre)
• Simpsons - their South Park Chalkboard
  (tags: simpsons SouthPark islam censorship)
• Chimps' emotional response to death caught on film
  (tags: chimpanzees death)
• From Logans Run to Transformers, how Star Wars changed everything
  (tags: scifi movies starwars)
• The Nerd Handbook
  (tags: geek psychology relationships)
• Nerd Attention Deficit Disorder
  (tags: geek productivity psychology culture)
• Liberal Democrats answer questions about their science policy
  (tags: science libdem politics uk)
• Some positive results for acupuncture in spinal cord damage.
  (tags: medicine research acupuncture)
• Nina Paley turns down Netflix for Sita Sings The Blues over DRM
  (tags: copyright drm video netflix)

Comments

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

I'm eating chocolate right now.

And I'm also feeling a bit down.

Hmm.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

It doesn't look as though the chocolate study controlled for amount of sugar consumed, and I think sugar crashes affect mood, and bad moods can cause carb cravings.

[andrewducker]

It certainly does with me!

[andrewducker]

From the abstract:
"These findings did not appear to be explained by a general increase in fat, carbohydrate, or energy intake."
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/170/8/699

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

As the authors point out, the Study indicated only a correlation between depression and chocolate-consumption -- and determining anything to do with cause and effect would require funding for another Study.

Personally, I'm plugging for "People who consume much chocolate are sufficiently self-aware & intelligent to realize that they rather often experience feelings of depression".

[darkoshi]

Where does it say how much chocolate the average person eats? I'm surprised that the article says that a 28g bar (1 ounce) is regular-sized; none of the chocolate bars I get come in that small a size. Then again, I don't usually eat a whole bar at once. But even a small Hershey's bar appears to be at least 1.5 ounces.

I'm depressive, but I don't consciously eat chocolate to feel better; I just eat it because it's a good-tasting snack. After reading the article, I contemplated laying off chocolate for a while, but it wouldn't be easy, because a lot of the sweets I eat have either chocolate or cocoa in it... chocolate chip cookies, oreo-style cookies, chocolate soymilk...

[andrewducker]

Aaah, you're right. It doesn't say how much the average person eats - but the highest level was >6 bars/month, which doesn't seem like very much to me.