If that craving for chocolate sometimes feels like it is coming from deep in your gut, that’s because maybe it is, AP reports from New York. A small study links the type of bacteria living in people’s digestive system to a desire for chocolate.

Everyone has a vast community of microbes in their guts. But people who crave daily chocolate show signs of having different colonies of bacteria than people who are immune to chocolate's allure.

It may be the case for other foods too. The idea could eventually lead to treating some types of obesity by changing the composition of the trillions of bacteria occupying the intestines and stomach, said Sunil Kochhar, co-author of the study appeared in the peer-reviewed Journal of Proteome Research.

He said amino acid glycine was higher in chocolate lovers, while taurine (energy drink ingredient) was higher in people who don’t. Also chocolate lovers had lower levels of the bad cholesterol, LDL.