Making the MOST addictive chocolate on the planet - BUT which substances should I use???

[Amy Meevis]

Dear DIYbio community,

I am currently doing an internship at Waag Society's Wetlab in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and I have been doing research on food addiction and addictive substances in food for the past couple of months. My background is in Design, so I'm not really familiar with the in's and out's of (DIY)biology, what protocols to use and which direction to look at.. So.. I need your help!

The proposal I've come up with so far is to create a piece of chocolate that blurs the boundaries between food and drugs, making use of several stimualting and addictive substances found in other foods (or even syntetically created substances). The idea is that these additives consumer such a satisfactory experience that only one biteful will be enough to stop the craving for chocolate.

So, my questions to you guys are: What substances would you advice me to use? How can I create the strongest effect possible in a small bite? How could I intergrate these substances in the chocolate? Would there be any health concerns (beside the obvious possibillity of acquiring a potentially lpong lasting addiction)? Do you have some general advice for me?

Other remarks ar always welcome! Thanks for your Time!

Amy

 

[Dakota Hamill]

Cocaine chocolate probably won't pass food safety standards, so I guess I'd look at 5 hour energy and red bull and other energy drinks that use other compounds with a stimulating/addictive affect.  Caffeine obviously comes to mind, and nicotine.  You can look at some other alkaloids but if it's legal to sell, there is probably already a multi-billion dollar industry exploiting it, as with coffee and cigarettes.  

Taurine and B12 and some other things are additives in energy drinks, so you could look at that.

"The idea is that these additives consumer such a satisfactory experience that only one biteful will be enough to stop the craving for chocolate."

That sentence confused me.  Are you trying to get people to stop eating regular chocolate, and start eating your crack chocolate invention...or are you trying to help people quit eating chocolate all together?

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[Nathan McCorkle]

On Wed, Nov 26, 2014 at 6:14 AM, Amy Meevis <amym...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear DIYbio community,
>
> I am currently doing an internship at Waag Society's Wetlab in Amsterdam
> (The Netherlands) and I have been doing research on food addiction and
> addictive substances in food for the past couple of months. My background is
> in Design, so I'm not really familiar with the in's and out's of
> (DIY)biology, what protocols to use and which direction to look at.. So.. I
> need your help!
>
> The proposal I've come up with so far is to create a piece of chocolate that
> blurs the boundaries between food and drugs, making use of several
> stimualting and addictive substances found in other foods (or even
> syntetically created substances). The idea is that these additives consumer
> such a satisfactory experience that only one biteful will be enough to stop
> the craving for chocolate.

Being satisfied and being addicted are sort of exact opposites. There
are movies made about some addict's 'last drink' etc... and they
always get sucked into addiction further. I think you need to better
define your goals, at least for us, since it is hard to interpret.

If you really want super-addictive, it would probably be some
combination of methamphetamine, barbiturates, fentanyl, and cocaine.
There are likely synthetic analogues that are much more intense, but
I'll leave that search up to you (hint, search:
[chemical_name_or_class] agonist).

Sugar as-is is already quite addictive, so if you're really after
SATISFACTION (which addictive substances do not give for more than a
few fleeting moments) you might look at ways to replace the sugar
content with some sweetener which does not affect the insulin response
(cepalic system)... but I don't think that will be an easy feat
whatsoever.

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

Nicotine :D 

There are rumors that companies even put it in cat food to make it addictive. And infact, a friend's cat always licks his fingers after smoking... 

On a more serious not, people have everything nowadays, so they want something exotic. Like dragonfruit or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diospyros_kaki , 

Here they even sell Apfelstrudel-cinnamon ice. That is so sick, but people buy it. The limits of food are getting non-existent... 

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

There's this berry that confuses your taste. It contains miraculin, which may cause a bitter chocolate  to taste sweet? 

[Cathal (Phone)]

I'd doubt those rumours, if only because pet food in the EU must be fit for *human* consumption, so it goes through the same rigorous testing as human foods..

--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[Pieter]

Have you seen The Stuff (1985)? Is that the kind of addiction your looking for?

m.imdb.com/title/tt0090094/

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

Hm, with too many products on the market, not only taste influences the consumer choice. Make the labelling addictive (like print a smiling baby face on the package), write glute-free on it and make it "cool".