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For every chocolate lover out there, the next sentence should be very good news for you. A recent study has shown that eating chocolate everyday can actually make you lose weight. You might think that you can now eat all the chocolate that you want and not have to worry about the extra pounds. However, this goes a little more complicated than that.

For so many years now, dark chocolate has been linked to its cholesterol and blood pressure lowering benefits. However, this study offers a whole new health effect.

The Study

Lead by Dr. Golomb, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California in San Diego took 1000 middle-aged adults as the subjects of his study. His team gathered data on how often they exercised, the amount of calories they take in, and how much chocolate they ate. It did not actually matter what kind of chocolate that they consume. On average, the subjects exercised three times a week and ate chocolate two times a week.

Upon data interpretation, it was found out that those who ate the most chocolates had lower BMIs. This was despite the fact that they ate more calories and exercised no differently from all the others. A difference of five to seven pounds was noted between those subjects who had five servings of chocolate to those that ate nothing at all.

Possible Explanations

Although the results of the study are quite enlightening, there are some accounts that needed to be considered. First is that people might just allow themselves to eat chocolate daily. They might just generally enjoy food and are a little more careful with their meals and snacks.

Other possible explanations lie on the chocolate itself. Chocolate contains fat. This can make a person feel satiated and therefore lead them to eat less later on. Chocolate also contains caffeine which can slightly affect metabolism by speeding it up. Finally, chocolate has polyphenol which also has an effect in speeding up metabolism.

Flawed Study?

Their conclusion that chocolate contains “negative” calories that can speed up the metabolism to the point of weight loss might get some people to question its accuracy. Looking at the components of the study, it can be very hard to accurately assess an individual’s calorie intake. It might prove to be a challenge for many to accurately remember everything what they were the day before.

Therefore, this study should greatly be improved when it is done in a more controlled environment where the researchers themselves are accurately able to say the exact calories that the subjects are consuming each day. This includes the specific food items that they are eating along with their normal daily activities that might have contributed in burning some calories.

The Bottom Line

Raking all of these into consideration, it might be safe to say that chocolate is not exactly the villain we once thought it was. Aside from lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, it can also aid in controlling weight. However, there should be more research dedicated to its issue in promoting weight loss. Still, people who love chocolate should not deprive themselves from including it in their daily intake. It would be best to eat dark chocolate, preferably those that are 70 percent or higher, as they have proven to give the greatest amount of antioxidants and the least amount of sugar.

Amy C. is a health enthusiast who likes discovering the newest studies that are related to the overall wellbeing of the individual. When she is not out sharing new knowledge, she works on the office administration and blogging activities of DMac Industries, a b deck and steel deck fabrication company. Check out her next post and be updated on the newest developments with human health.