It smells good, it looks good and just the thought of it can cause a fully grown adult to drool at the mouth.

Whether you like it mixed with nuts and raisins or drizzled over coconut, Turkish Delight or even marshmallows, chocolate is undoubtedly one of the nation’s favourite snacks.

On average, a total of 16kg of the tasty treat is consumed per person, per year with the average Brit spending £1.20 a week on their favourite bar, according to Trading Standards.

But can we actually get addicted to the taste or is the notion of chocoholics – suffering serious withdrawal symptoms when they don’t get their latest fix – a myth?

That was the topic of debate at Ilkley Science Festival last weekend when Leeds University professor Marion Hetherington took the floor.

Marion, who is based in Ilkley, is an expert in eating. She is famed for her work on short-term influences on food intake and has more recently investigated gene-environment interactions in the development of obesity.

“There is a lot of lay understanding about addiction to shopping, running, gaming, etc,” she said. “But it’s really hard to show evidence of addiction with something like food because it is something that everyone needs to eat to stay healthy.

“There are certain components which are linked to the definition of addiction, for example, the withdrawal symptoms associated with caffeine, alcohol or nicotine that can be clearly monitored.

“But with food, in terms of adaptive responses, there is no evidence of addiction to food.”

Marion told how she carried out a study in Dundee whereby a number of people were asked to come forward if they felt they were addicted to chocolate.

Chocolate, she argues, is different to any other food, both in the way it is used by those who indulge, and in the way that it is marketed.

She said: “When we put an advert asking for people who thought they were addicted to chocolate to come forward, phone lines were jammed with people, especially women, who felt they were addicted. We had around 70 women and only two men, which was interesting in itself, but in the end we studied about 50 people.

“We found there are very close similarities between binge eating and eating chocolate. It is a non-nutritive reward, or a treat.

“Food is mainly used to reduce hunger but chocolate is a peculiar food in that it has a special place in the hearts of most people in the UK.

“We grow up with a concept of it being a luxury or reward. Think of the slogans attached to it – ‘A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play’ – it is something luxurious and sensuous but on the flip side, if we think of Milky Way, it ‘won’t spoil your appetite’.

“What I am suggesting is that we are using this high-energy and high-density food in ways we would not use other foods. For example, pasta with a creamy sauce is a high-density food but no one would use it in the same way as chocolate. It wouldn’t be gift wrapped as a present, for example. Or you wouldn’t find yourself saying ‘stuff it, I’ll go and have some creamy pasta! I’m just going to let myself be tempted. Chocolate is a particular type of food which we indulge in.”

It is due to this marketing approach and idea of chocolate being a luxury – something perhaps we shouldn’t have too much of – which adds to its appeal, according to Marion.

So is that why so many of us feel pangs of guilt after having demolished a bar?

She said: “If you are feeling lethargic and down, perhaps a bit irritable, you wouldn’t reach for pasta in the way you might reach for chocolate so it is used differently.

“In our culture, chocolate is viewed as a food that makes you feel good. It has a push-me-pull-me effect – on the one hand, it is a luxury, a treat; on the other, you shouldn’t have too much of it. Doughnuts have the same effect but no one talks about being addicted to doughnuts the way they claim to be addicted to chocolate.”

Chocolate does contain caffeine and theobromine, both of which are stimulants, but, according to Marion, in order to get the same caffeine hit as your would get from a cup of coffee you would have to eat a pound of chocolate.

So what is it about the creamy confectionery that is so tempting?

Marion said: “Chocolate has a deadly combination in terms of palatability – we are programmed to eat foods which are high in energy and sweet.

“If you look at an animal like an orangutan they reach out for a banana which is sweet and gives lots of energy. But if it’s a bit off, it would be bitter. It’s a good idea not to eat it if it’s bitter because we have such a strong reaction to food. Other primates have the same reactions to sweet and sour that we do.

“But for us a banana does not have the same punch. It doesn’t have that ‘melt in the mouth’ satisfaction that chocolate does and manufacturers very much rely on that sensory experience to sell the product. It is very difficult to compare to any other type of food.”

Interestingly, in Britain, the most common type of chocolate sold is milk chocolate, whereas in France, for example, dark chocolate is regarded as the best.

Marion said: “The French eat very differently to us. For us, convenience is perhaps the key, we eat very quickly. Whereas in France food is something that is considered very important. French people take a long time to choose their food and pay particular attention to what they are eating.

“There is a certain amount of snobbery around what kind of chocolate they eat and dark chocolate is considered the best.”

All in all, Marion says she aims to discount the idea of chocolate ‘addiction’. She said: “Many people will have a notion or idea about addiction but I will try to debunk that through my findings.”

So, if, like me, you are the kind of person who rushes out to the shops at the mere mention of the words Cadbury, Frys or Galaxy, perhaps it's time to stop and think hard about whether you really need that bar of chocolate or whether you could actually do without.