United States: According to a recent study done recently, a shocking suggestion is made that taking dark chocolate daily may reduce the chances of developing a disease called diabetes.
More about the news
The specialists did the research along with the team from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which involved 111,000 participants in three large cohorts that did not suffer from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer.
The participants were asked to report their level of dark chocolate and whether they had diabetes or not.
The people who ate at least five portions of any form of chocolate every week had a 10% lower rate of type 2 diabetes compared with those who rarely or never consumed chocolate; the information was spotted in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
Moreover, individuals who consumed five or more servings of dark chocolate decreased the risk of diabetes formation by 21 percent.
What more are the experts stating?
As the study’s leader, Binkai Liu, a Harvard doctoral student, said that, based on the study’s results, it is possible for metabolites of flavonoid-containing foods such as dark chocolate to have metabolic benefits.
For each weekly serving of dark chocolate, the risk was reduced by 3%.
Binkai Liu, a Harvard doctoral student who led the research, noted that the study suggests that flavonoid-rich foods, like dark chocolate, may have potential metabolic benefits.
As per Liu, “It is important to note that the type of chocolate matters, as milk chocolate did not show the same benefits,” Fox News reported.
Dark and milk chocolate difference
Furthermore, the stark difference between dark and milk chocolate was baffling for experts.
“Dark chocolate appeared to offer protective effects against type 2 diabetes, likely due to its high cocoa content and flavonoid levels, while milk chocolate — with its added sugar and lower cocoa content — seemed to contribute to weight gain instead,” Liu added.
Furthermore, as per Tanya Freirich, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Charlotte, North Carolina, who practices as The Lupus Dietitian, “the flavanols in dark chocolate are key to its benefits, as they are “very anti-inflammatory.”
“I agree that the antioxidant and vasodilation benefits from flavanols can reduce the risk of diabetes,” she added.
Moreover, “Antioxidant, antiinflammatory and vasodilation benefits from flavanols help improve our cardiovascular and metabolic health,” as she explained, Fox News reported.
“Because diabetes is a metabolic disease, anything reducing our inflammation will be helpful,” she continued.
Role at chemical scale
The flavanols in cocoa can also promote the release of nitric oxide – a compound that helps vessels expand and optimize blood circulation and possibly decrease high blood pressure, as a registered dietitian based in New Jersey, Erin Palinski-Wade, explains.
Nevertheless, the above research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, did have its shortcomings, as pointed out by Liu.
Furthermore, as she added, “There is always a possibility of residual confounding, even though we accounted for many dietary and lifestyle factors.”
“Additionally, the study participants were predominantly older adults and non-Hispanic, so the findings may not be fully generalizable to younger and more diverse populations,” she continued.
Additionally, Palinski-Wade said that other lifestyle activities also added to a reduced risk of disease development.
“For instance, it is possible that people who choose dark chocolate are already looking to reduce added sugar in other areas of their diet and are using dark chocolate to indulge their sweet tooth versus other forms of sweet treats,” Wade added.