The secrets of chocolate...

Every now and then a new "scientific study" makes some claim about this being healthy or that being unhealthy. But THIS is especially interesting... can it be that chocolate can help you lose weight?

Can it really be true, that people who regularly eat chocolate tend to be thinner?

That's exactly what a recent US study suggests. And yes, it was a serious, scientifically conducted study, done by qualified academics and published in a proper academic journal.

The researchers, led by dr. Beatrice Golomb from the University of California at San Diego, studied a sample group of 1018 men and women aged 20 to 85 years from San Diego, California, without known cardiovascular disease, diabetes or similar health problems.

They were asked to fill out a lifestyle questionnaire about things such as diet and exercise choices. They were weighed as part of the research and their body mass index (BMI) was recorded.

Because chocolate contains lots of fat and sugar and thus kilojoules, the general assumption is that eating it is just about the quickest way to add unwanted kilogrammes and ruin your weight-loss project.

But Golomb's study found the opposite: Those who ate chocolate a few times a week were on average slimmer than those who ate it only occasionally. This remained true even when their level of exercise was taken into account.

The suggested explanation for this is that the benefits of modest and frequent chocolate intake might include reduced fat deposition, thereby offsetting the effects of the additional kilojoules.

"Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories (kilojoules), not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight," Golomb said.

Before you rush off to include chocolate in your weight-loss arsenal, it's important to note a couple of things about Golomb's study:

• It does NOT find that eating chocolate will make you lose weight, only that there is a link between regularly eating chocolate and having a lower BMI. In scientific terms: There is a correlation, but not necessarily a causation.

• The sample group is very small, and the results will need to be independently confirmed and verified by using bigger groups and even clinical studies.

• It relies on the honesty and accuracy of information supplied by the participants.

• Actual kilojoule intake was not measured, but estimated based on the information provided via the questionnaire.

It is also important to note that Golomb and her co-authors suggest – but have not set out to prove – that antioxidant compounds called catechins (which are found in dark chocolate) might help explain the results. This idea is based on previous studies done on rodents, where mice fed with these antioxidants showed improved lean muscle mass and better physical fitness.

But this has not been proven in humans, and Golomb herself told the Wall Street Journal that an additional study – designed specifically to see if chocolate leads to weight loss – would be necessary before any concrete assertions about the weight-reducing benefits of chocolate could be made.

Until then, Slimtrack's advice is: By all means eat chocolate in moderation, but record the type and portion size in your food diary so that you may know how it affects your kilojoule allowance for the day. And don't change your eating habits every time some new study pops up!