What your food cravings are trying to tell you

Chocolate

Why we crave it

Cocoa butter melts in the mouth at just below body temperature. Many women crave chocolate premenstrually, which also suggests a hormonal link.

How to control it
Anecdotally, women who increase their intake of the mineral magnesium - by taking a supplement, or by eating nuts, wholegrains and spinach - reduce their hormonally driven chocolate cravings. Interestingly, researchers at University College London found that subjects told to eat chocolate when not hungry found their cravings became weaker. Eating it on an empty stomach made their cravings stronger.