A food craving is a strong desire for a certain food or kind of food. Some nutrition experts theorize that food cravings may be related to specific nutritional deficiencies, but others disagree. While the evidence is still lacking to confirm one side's position or the other's, the arguments for and against a link between nutritional deficiencies and food cravings include observations on blood sugar regulation and carbohydrate cravings, magnesium deficiency and chocolate cravings in premenstrual women and
Mineral Deficiencies & Carbohydrate/Sugar Cravings
According to Carol Simontacchi, C.C.N., M.S., a deficiency in any of five specific minerals and their cofactors may contribute to a craving for high-sugar carbohydrates. These minerals -- chromium, magnesium, manganese, vanadium and zinc -- are essential for blood sugar regulation. A blood sugar imbalance, as perpetrated by a deficiency in one or more of these minerals, could promote a craving for sweet foods that may quickly, albeit not sustainably, correct that imbalance.
Chocolate Cravings & Magnesium
As Simontacchi notes, a craving for chocolate is common among premenstrual women. It has been suggested that this may be due to the body's need for the magnesium it contains. However, she points out, the amount of magnesium in a chocolate bar, approximately 50 mg, is significantly less than the 1,000 mg that studies on magnesium and premenstrual syndrome found is necessary to improve symptoms. More likely, she suggests, it is that the fat and sugar meet some emotional or psychological need associated with premenstrual symptoms, explaining that since the hippocampus of the brain, involved with thought, emotion and memory, contains a high concentration of magnesium, a magnesium deficiency might establish the "right" mental-emotional environment for a craving to occur.
Alternative Explanations
The University of Pennsylvania's Julia M. Hormes suggests several other alternative explanations for the prevalent chocolate craving among premenstrual women, including that a general caloric deficiency could be just as responsible or that even if the magnesium in chocolate helped produce the nutritional balance necessary to reduce premenstrual symptoms, that doesn't mean a lack of magnesium caused those symptoms. Hormes also points out that if a deficiency in a specific nutrient were to blame, the craving would likely be more general rather than so specific to chocolate.
Cravings Among Pregnant Women
According to nutrition guidelines for pregnant and lactating women by the McKinley Health Center of the University of Illinois, there is no medical evidence supporting the claim that food cravings in pregnant women have anything to do with a nutritional deficiency. More, the guidelines' authors encourage pregnant women to satisfy their cravings, within reason, as doing so will do no harm, particularly when the craving is for a nutritious food anyway.
References
- Diabetes Information Library; Mineral Deficiencies and Food Cravings; Carol Simontacchi
- University of Pennsylvania Scholary Commons; Towards a Socio-Cultural Model of Food Cravings: Evidence from the Case of Perimenstrual Chocolate Craving; Julia M. Hormes; August 2010
- University of Illinois, McKinley Health Center: Healthy Eating for Pregnancy and Lactation
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