Women have long been claiming chocolate as a comfort food, but research shows that chocolate is something that both men and women reach for. According to a new study, people of both genders with mild or major depression eat more chocolate. Researchers believe depression could trigger this craving.

Researchers from the University of California monitored the diets of 931 men and women, focusing on chocolate consumption. None of the participants were taking antidepressants, and they had their moods assessed routinely.

Those with depression consumed 8.4 servings of chocolate (1 ounce is one serving) per month, while those with major depression ate an average of 11.4 servings per month. Their counterparts who showed no signs of depression ate an average of 5.4 servings per month.

Chocolate sends signals to the brain to release serotonin and endorphins, two “feel happy” opioids. Endorphins are responsible for that satisfied buzz you get after exercise, while serotonin is believed to produce feelings of love and happiness.

This study is the first to examine the chocolate-mood link for both men and women, and, based off their findings, Doctors Natalie Rose (U.C., Davis) and Beatrice Golomb (U.C., San Diego) believe there may be a direct link between depression and chocolate cravings.

"The findings did not appear to be explained by a general increase in caffeine, fat, carbohydrate or energy intake, suggesting that our findings are specific to chocolate," Golomb said in a press release. “Our study confirms long-held suspicions that eating chocolate is something that people (including men) do when they are feeling down."

One speculation is that when a person is down in the dumps, he or she will reach for this “comfort food” to boost his/her mood. Another possibility, however, is that eating chocolate (which is often high in fat and sugar) causes a person’s moods to spike for a short period of time only to crash later.

"Because it was a cross sectional study, meaning a slice in time,” Golomb explained, “it did not tell us whether the chocolate decreased or intensified the depression."

The research team plans to conduct further research investigating the effects of chocolate on mood to gain more insight into this relationship. “Whether there is a causal connection, and if so in which direction, is a matter for future prospective study,” they concluded in their report.

­Read the study’s abstract at the Archives of Internal Medicine, or check out the University of California’s press release for more information.

Research indicates that indoor tanning could be an addictive habit, and all those rays could mean trouble for tanning addicts.           

Of 229 college students from a large university in the northeastern United States that used indoor tanning facilities, four in 10 met DSM-IV criteria for tanning addiction. Three in 10 met criteria for a test similar to the CAGE test (acronym for Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, Eye-opener). CAGE is a four-question self-test sometimes used to increase awareness of use and/or abuse of alcohol.

Students who met criteria for both also had greater anxiety and substance use than their counterparts, which leads some to believe tanning addiction may be related to stress.

"There is some growing evidence now that people use tanning as a way to cope with stressors, as way to increase positive mood, decrease negative moods, [and to] cope with environmental demands,” Catherine E. Mosher, co-author of the study, said in an interview with Health Day. “In that way it's similar to other addictive behaviors."

Sun exposure stimulates Vitamin D production in the body. Vitamin D plays an important role in bone health, but it’s also been known to boost mood. Just 10 minutes a day in the sun’s UV rays—the same rays that allow tanning beds to produce that golden glow—is enough to boost these levels.

However all of this UV exposure can cause serious skin damage. For tanning addicts, this means a significantly higher risk of skin cancer. Mosher says counseling may be one way to reduce the impulse to tan

“Counseling could be a logical intervention for these people who have excessive visits to tanning salons,” Mosher said. “If, for some people, tanning is a way to cope with emotions, then there are obviously healthier ways to do so than to go to tanning salons every week.”

Read more about Mosher’s study on Health Day, or find her study’s abstract in The Archives of Dermatology.

Despite the economic state of our nation, more Americans than ever are bringing home the bacon—to eat with eggs, on cheeseburgers, or sandwiched between two slabs of fried chicken. The new Double Down by KFC  has plenty of mouths watering, and plenty of nutritionists and cardiologists cringing and wondering what to do about the U.S. bacon infatuation.

One pound of bacon (16-20 medium slices) can contain as much as 81 grams of fat, most of which (68 grams) is heart-clogging saturated fat. The Double Down is loaded with 540 calories and 32 grams of fat (10 g saturated). The recommended daily limit for saturated fat is 16 grams.

Bacon’s saturated fat is different from the mono- and poly-unsaturated fats found in fish, nuts and olive or soybean oils. While these fats can help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease, too much saturated fat can clog arteries and increase the risk of heart attack. The high sodium levels (up to 10,487 mg per pound) can also cause a cholesterol spike.

The good news is you don’t have to choose between saving your heart and nurturing your soul. As with caffeine and sweets, the key to this affair of the heart (or the stomach) is moderation.

“As a flavoring and ingredient, [bacon is] wonderful,” dietitian Susan Moores of the American Dietetic Association told MSNBC. “As a diet mainstay, not so much.”

A few strips now and then won’t hurt you, and there are plenty of other options to help tide you over. Turkey bacon, for example, has about half the fat and sodium. Canadian bacon and reduced-sodium bacon are also healthier options. Traditional bacon isn’t completely off limits, either.

“It all boils down to: How much?,” Moores says.

For the full story on America’s most delicious love affair, visit MSNBC.

A new approach for controlling type 1 diabetes may be on the horizon.  Researchers found that some cells can transform into and regenerate beta cells, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

University of Geneva Medical School researchers induced type 1 diabetes in mice by destroying their beta cells, treating the mice with insulin injections to regulate blood glucose levels. The research team, led by professor Pedro Herrera, then monitored alpha cells for changes.

Alpha cells actually changed into active beta cells, and according to Herrera, this transformation can occur even when alpha cells are absent. Eventually the injections were no longer necessary.

Andrew Rakeman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation says this research could provide insight into treating type 1diabetes.

“Anytime you’re thinking about any type of cure or really good treatments for type 1 diabetes, you have to consider both the beta cells and the immune side,” Rakeman told Health Day.

“Reprogramming is something that can happen naturally. If one can delineate what’s causing it to happen in mice, it might be possible to find interventions to induce that to happen in humans.”

Beta cells are destroyed in individuals with diabetes because the body’s immune system recognizes the cells as foreign substances. White blood cells, responsible for defending the body against viruses, attack the beta cells, and the body can no longer produce insulin. The body may also destroy transplanted cells, leaving the individual independent on insulin therapy.

“At this point it’s unclear whether reprogrammed alpha cells would be vulnerable,” Rakeman says. “Alpha cells are not normally destroyed by the immune system...(due to cellular changes) it’s likely that they’ll appear to the immune system as beta cells.”

Research is in its early stages, and current results, though hopeful, are merely suggestive. More information is needed to determine what happens to alpha cells during transformation. The study appears in the journal Nature.