Findings from lead author Beatrice Golomb, M.D., Ph.D and her team found that eating chocolate frequently is linked to lower weight.
Chocolate despite its sugar and fat, appears to have favorable metabolic effects. Fewer calories end up as fat deposited in the body.
Her UC San Diego team examined diet surveys, weight-height data, and other information provided by 972 local men and women who had volunteered for a clinical study on the non-cardiac effects of statin drugs.
The participants were aged between 20 and 85, and free of heart disease and diabetes, with normal blood cholesterol profiles.
The findings reported by Dr. Golomb’s team were far more favorable than they had expected.
They concluded that adults who ate chocolate frequently were thinner, they had a lower body mass index than those who ate chocolate less often.
The size of the effect was modest but significant, and larger than could be explained by chance.
“Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight,” states Dr. Golomb.
“In the case of chocolate this is good news, both for those who have a regular chocolate habit and those who may wish to start one,” she ends.
For more on dark chocolate and health benefits.
