The chocolate diet

Chocoholics may know that in recent years chocolate has been linked to a various health benefits. Studies have found that regularly eating chocolate may lower blood pressure and cardiovascular risk,and improve cholesterol and insulin regulation.

Although the new study is among the first to look at chocolate’s effect on weight,the findings “are compatible with other evidence showing favourable metabolic effects that are known to track with body mass index,” said Dr Beatrice A Golomb,lead author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at the University of California,San Diego.

Dr Golomb’s study,published in Archives of Internal Medicine and financed by the National Institutes of Health,involved roughly 1,000 adults. The researchers looked at data on how often they exercised,the amount and type of calories they ate — including a breakdown of the types of dietary fat they consumed — and how their health and weight related to their chocolate intake. On average,the subjects were middle-aged,exercised about three times a week and ate chocolate about twice a week. There was no breakdown of the kinds of chocolate they ate,whether dark,milk or white.

The people who ate chocolate the most frequently,despite eating more calories and exercising no differently from those who ate the least chocolate,tended to have lower BMIs. There was a difference of roughly five to seven pounds between subjects who ate five servings of chocolate a week and those who ate none,Dr Golomb said.

Dietary studies can be unreliable,since so many complicating factors can influence results,and it is difficult to pinpoint cause and effect. But the researchers adjusted their results for a number of variables,including age,gender,depression,vegetable consumption,and fat and calorie intake. “It didn’t matter which of those you added,the relationship remained very stably significant,” said Dr Golomb.

Still,the findings should not be taken as a license to overindulge in chocolate. Dr Golomb cautioned that it was the frequency of chocolate consumption — not the amount per serving — that had a beneficial effect on BMI. Indeed,there was a small trend toward higher BMIs among those consuming larger amounts of chocolate per sitting. “If you eat 10 pounds of chocolate a day,that’s not going to be a favourable thing,” Dr Golomb said.