The Contribution of cocoa additive to cigarette smoking addiction

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smoking is unknown. Tyramine, like tryptophan and tryptamine, contains reactive groups and
forms reaction products during combustion, which have MAO-I properties. Therefore,
tyramine may play a role in the cigarette smoking addiction through the MAO-I effects of its
reaction products.
4.2.9 Octopamine
The level of octopamine in cocoa is unknown and therefore the level in cigarettes could not
be calculated.
Octopamine is an endogenous compound in the human body and is metabolised by MAO.
When octopamine was perfused in guinea-pig lung, the pulmonary MAO inactivated 35 % of
octopamine. The activity data of octopamine and noradrenaline on ß-adrenoreceptors indicate
that the activity of octopamine is too low to have any significant physiological effect on the
respiratory system. No data are available on possible dependency properties of octopamine.
4.2.10 Anandamide
Anandamide activates cannabinoid receptors in humans. Anandamide seems to control the
tonus of the bronchus but compared with the dosis in cigarettes (12.5 ng/25 cigarettes) large
doses (± 5 mg/kg i.v.) are needed to affect the respiratory system. Therefore, it seems that
anandamide will not affect the nicotine bioavailability through a bronchodilatory effect.
Due to recent discovery of anandamide in cocoa, it was suggested that anandamide may
attribute to the craving quality of cocoa. However, others have calculated that large quantities
of cocoa have to be ingested in order to show cannabimimetic effects (e.g. 25 kg chocolate
has to be ingested) (10). It is obvious that the anandamide quantity present in cigarette will
not induce such an effect.
Although, it is tempting to link anandamide with craving and the endogenous cannabinoid
system, it seems unlikely that anandamide will contribute to the addiction to cigarette
smoking.
4.3 Combined effects
In this review we discussed the ten best known pharmacologically active constituents found
in cocoa and their effect on the addiction to cigarette smoking. The effect on the addiction to
cigarette smoking was evaluated by considering the effect on the pulmonary bioavailability of
nicotine and the addictive properties of those compounds.
The body is exposed to the psychoactive compounds via food and drinks or is synthesized by
the body itself. The exposure to the psychoactive cocoa compounds via cigarette smoking is
negligible compared with the exposure to the psychoactive compounds via food and drinks or
compared with the endogenous production of those compounds. Furthermore, the
compounds, especially the bioamines, are degraded rapidly when consumed. Some
compounds do have addictive properties or affect the activity of compounds in the brain.
However, based on the evidence discussed above, it is unlikely that the psychoactive
compounds in tobacco originating cocoa exert any systemic pharmacological effects or
increase the addiction to cigarette smoking.
Compounds, such as phenylethylamine, tryptamine and tyramine, are naturally occurring in
tobacco. The intake of those compounds through cigarette smoking is comparable to or
higher than the intake through food. The relatively higher exposure to these compounds via
cigarette smoking compared with exposure via food and drinks is mainly attributed by the
natural occurrence of these compounds in tobacco rather than by addition of cocoa to
cigarettes. Therefore, it is unlikely that cocoa will affect the cigarette smoking addiction via