The Montreal Gazette:听On Valentine鈥檚 Day, it鈥檚听virtually obligatory to talk about chocolate. Although its connection to love is a hot topic trotted out every year by the media, it is time to cool it off once and for all. Chocolate has not, does not, and will not make anyone fall in love! The seductive story that makes the rounds involves phenylethylamine in chocolate, a compound also found in the brain, linked to mood elevation. Give a gift of chocolate, raise phenylethylamine levels, and induce feelings of affection, hopefully toward the donor, goes the argument. Unfortunately, phenylethylamine in chocolate never makes it to the brain. As it passes through the liver it encounters monoamine oxidase, an enzyme that converts it to phenylacetic acid, which is eliminated in the urine. Read 听
