Lose weight with pleasure: Does chocolate really make you slim?

People with a sweet tooth are slimmer than other people! At least that's the astonishing result of a scientific study by the University of California. What does this mean for our eating habits? Is unrestrained feasting allowed?

"Eat more chocolate!" Could this be the future medical advice for overweight people? If you take scientific findings into account, the answer is yes. Researcher Beatrice Golomb and her team studied over 1,000 people at the University of California in San Diego in 2012 and came to this conclusion remarkable result.

Ingredients provide the sweet surprise

The study participants who regularly Chocolate had a lower body mass index (BMI) than those who completely abstained from chocolate. Shouldn't we assume that they were slightly fatter than the comparison group due to the high sugar and fat content of chocolate? Golomb got to the bottom of the matter. She suspected that it is certain ingredients in chocolate that influence the metabolism. Apparently, it is not only the number of calories but also their composition that is important in nutrition.

To be on the safe side, Golomb also investigated whether other factors could be responsible for the astonishing results. However, no differences were found in the behavior of the participants that could be responsible for the difference in weight. For example, those with a sweet tooth did not exercise more than the abstainers in the comparison group. So it must be the Ingredients of the cocoa bean, including the polyphenols. They boost the metabolism and can therefore balance out the calories in the chocolate.

High cocoa content is crucial

It was already known from earlier studies that polyphenols have an anti-inflammatory and cancer-preventing effect. They can protect body cells from free radicals, slow down cell oxidation and prevent fat deposits in the blood vessels. In this way, they prevent arteriosclerosis and heart attacks. The richer the chocolate is in cocoa, the stronger its effect. Dark chocolate is therefore preferable. It also contains an enzyme that is responsible for lowering high blood pressure.

But what does the study mean for us? It is by no means an invitation to unrestrained chocolate consumption, because the foodies among the participants in the study only ate chocolate in small quantities and only about twice a week. And they ate almost exclusively dark chocolate with a very high Cocoa content.