Seems like the business men who are dealing with the market fallout may be learning something from the fairer sex when it comes using food to boost their mood.

According to a Brand Keys survey, men are reaching for chocolate bars more frequently these days. Every one of the 750 men in the survey, taken Friday through Sunday, said they were eating more chocolate.

“There’s so little that one can actually do about the economy and people are feeling so disconnected from the problems and the solutions that it was just interesting to see how consumers were reacting,” said Robert Passikoff, president of customer loyalty firm Brand Keys. “Buying a candy bar is in fact something they can do.”

“Now, if we could only get them to go out and buy $700 billion worth of candy, I guess we’d be okay,” he joked.
 
Yes, chocolate can be high in fat and calories, but it’s got a health benefit too. As Passikoff noted, besides containing antioxidants studies have shown that eating chocolate every day is connected to better moods and reduced stress.

But the jury is still out on whether chocolate can cure the blues. While chocolate consumption temporarily boosts feel-good chemicals in the brain, some research suggest it may actually make depression worse.

The Brand Keys survey of 750 men age 25 to 65 across the U.S. found these chocolates are the ones men are reaching for most in these tough times (U.S. manufacturer in parentheses):
 
1. Snickers (Mars Inc)
2. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (Hershey Co)
3. Kit Kat Bars (Hershey Co)
4. Milky Way (Mars Inc)
5. Butterfinger (Nestle)
6. Baby Ruth (Nestle)
7. Three Musketeers (Mars Inc)
8. Mars (Mars Inc)
9. Oh Henry! (Nestle)
10. Hershey (Hershey Co) 

Conspicuously absent is Nestle’s 100 Grand bar, formerly the $100,000 bar.
 
(Photo: Reuters)