Here’s some sweet news just in time for the holiday candy season.
Research published this week in The BMJ suggests that consuming chocolate can lower the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. But before you go cocoa-nuts — the study also had some caveats, showing that the wrong chocoholic choice can can lead to excessive long-term weight gain.
“Our findings suggest that not all chocolate is created equal,” said lead study author Binkai Liu, a doctoral student in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
While dark chocolate had the benefits, milk chocolate didn’t — and had that weight gain downside.
“For anyone who loves chocolate, this is a reminder that making small choices, like choosing dark chocolate over milk chocolate, can make a positive difference to their health,” Liu added.
Her team analyzed data from 192,200 non-diabetic adults who shared their body weight and food intake. Nearly 112,000 reported eating chocolate.
Over the three-decade study, almost 19,000 participants developed Type 2 diabetes, including 4,800 chocolate lovers.
The researchers determined that those who ate five or more weekly servings of dark chocolate had a 21% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. For its part, milk chocolate led to weight gain.
“We were most surprised by the stark contrast in the impact of dark and milk chocolate on diabetes risk and long-term weight management,” Liu told Healthline.
“Despite having similar energy and saturated fat levels, dark chocolate appears to offer protective effects, likely due to its rich polyphenol content,” Liu added. “This intriguing difference highlights the potential role of polyphenols in shaping health outcomes and warrants further exploration.”
Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants found in plants that can combat inflammation, protect against free-radical damage and promote brain health.
Dr. Nick Pappas, a board-certified hand surgeon in the New Orleans area, recently revealed that he likes to indulge in three small pieces of 70% dark chocolate at night to reduce inflammation and feel satisfied.
Dr. Qi Sun, a Harvard associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology and the lead study investigator, told The New York Times that dark chocolate should not be considered a “magic bullet” for preventing Type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 36 million Americans.
Sun’s team found that those who ate more dark chocolate had better diet quality, consuming more fruit, vegetables and flavonoids, which are antioxidants in fruits, vegetables, teas and chocolate that can help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol.
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Sun also noted that most participants were older white adults who consumed relatively little chocolate, so the results may not apply to everyone.
Dr. Nestoras Mathioudakis, co-medical director of the Diabetes Prevention and Education Program at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, told CNN that these new findings don’t make him want to encourage people to consume chocolate for better blood sugar control.
“I would suggest alternative sources [of flavanols], especially dark berries such as blueberries, blackberries and pomegranates, apples and tea,” he said. “Red wine contains flavanols as well, but again, I would not recommend wine either.”