Study finds cocoa is GREAT for your health
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A new study has explored the impact of daily chocolate consumption on the metabolism of women.
Consuming a small amount of chocolate in the morning reduced blood glucose throughout the day.
It also decreased hunger and the desire for other sweets throughout the day.
The reduction in appetite totalled 300 kcal a day, not enough to offset the chocolate itself, which added 542 kcal.
Consuming chocolate in the evening had very different impacts on metabolism.
100g of chocolate in the evening affected how the women slept, making their sleep schedule more regular.
Eating chocolate in the morning did not produce the same effect but did cause a self-reported increase in ‘siesta frequency’.
The results of the study were published in the FASEB journal of experimental biology.
The researchers conclude that they may have discovered a relatively under examined area of diet.
If the time at which you eat can affect how the food is used by your body, it is possible that when we eat could be important.
Eating at the ‘wrong’ time could impact body weight and sleep health.
They advocate for future research into this effect, noting that the sample size of 19 post-menopausal women may not be representative of all groups.
Previous research has examined the influence of chocolate on how we process sugar.
One review from 2017 examined the effect of cocoa’s antioxidant chemicals on treating type 2 diabetes.
The antioxidants increased the amount of insulin that people were able to produce and increased the sensitivity to insulin.
They note that commercially available chocolates are still not a good health food for diabetics, as the sugar content greatly outweighs the beneficial antioxidants.
Cocoa, the active ingredient of chocolate, has been tied to a variety of health benefits.
The antioxidants it contains have anti-inflammatory properties and can reduce high blood pressure according to a review published in Frontiers in Nutrition.
As a result of these properties cocoa is currently being examined as a potential health food for heart disease.
Other foods that contain polyphenol antioxidants include cloves, berries, beans and nuts.
Chocolate research is often conducted using dark chocolate, which has a higher amount of cocoa in it.
Milk chocolate is more commonly consumed and has a measurably different impact on the body.
Research has found that regular consumption of milk chocolate is often tied to weight gain.
Dark chocolate, in similar studies, has not been linked to weight gain, although the research amount of 30g a day may not correspond to typical eating habits.
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