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According to research:

• People who feel depressed eat about 55 percent more chocolate than their peers
• The more depressed they feel, the more chocolate they tend to eat
• Explaining apparent link between chocolate and depression is a classic chicken-or-egg question

Many of us go reach for a chocolate when we feel a little down. It makes us feel better about ourselves for a while – and then we feel guilty later about the calories we just ate. In fact studies show that depressed people eat more than one and a half times as much chocolate as their non-depressed friends. And the amount of chocolate we consume is directly related to the level of depression we feel.

Studies also indicate that there's no gender bias as far as the propensity to eat chocolates during moments of depression is concerned. It turns out that the same proportion of men and women who are depressed turn to chocolates.

Now for the bad news. While chocolates make depressed people feel better over the short term, eating them regularly may have a negative impact on health and mood in the long run. This is more true if the chocolate comes in the form of candy bars which contain unsaturated fats and other unhealthy ingredients. And people who overindulge in chocolates are prone to even more depression.