The
Chocolate Diet?
Chocolate may not be as hazardous to your waistline as you think —
at least in moderation.
A new study shows that people who eat chocolate frequently have
lower body mass indexes than those who eat it less often. The researchers could
not explain precisely why something usually loaded with sugar, fat and calories
would have a beneficial effect on weight. But they suspect that antioxidants
and other compounds in chocolate may deliver a metabolic boost that can offset
its caloric downside.
Chocoholics may know that in recent years chocolate has been linked
to a growing list of health benefits. Studies have found, for example, 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
favorable 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 B.M.I.’s. 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 eggs and bunnies this Easter. Dr. Golomb cautioned that it was the
frequency of chocolate consumption — not the amount per serving — that had a
beneficial effect on B.M.I. Indeed, there was a small trend toward higher
B.M.I.’s among those consuming larger amounts of chocolate per sitting.
“It’s not the case that eating the largest amount of chocolate is
beneficial; it’s that eating it more often was favorable,” Dr. Golomb said. “If
you eat 10 pounds of chocolate a day, that’s not going to be a favorable
thing.”
The idea for the study came to Dr. Golomb a few years ago at an
American Heart Association conference, when Dr. Golomb was sitting next to a nutritionist
who studies chocolate. “This lovely chocolate dessert cart came out, and she
looked at it forlornly and said, ‘Too bad it has all these calories,’ ” she
recalled.
Dr. Golomb was familiar with research on animals showing that
polyphenols, a type of antioxidant found in abundance in chocolate —
particularly dark chocolate — increased muscular
performance and lean muscle mass and could reduce weight without changes in
calorie consumption or exercise levels. That, along with the research on humans
showing all the other benefits that tend to go along with improved fitness,
including lower blood pressure and better regulation of insulin,
led Dr. Golomb to suspect that the calories in chocolate would be offset by
improvements in metabolism. So the net result of eating chocolate on body
weight, she thought, would be a neutral one.
“We found something slightly more favorable than that,” she said.
Dr. Golomb said she had not yet spoken to the nutritionist who
inspired the study to tell her about the findings. “I should probably give her
a call,” she said.
herald tribune magazine staff 2012
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