EverythingHealth
Nov 28, 2020
Updated: Nov 1, 2022
Here is some great news for your next Zoom cocktail party or trivia event. I bet you thought eating chocolate would make you fat. I did too, but I'm happy to give you the scientific data that says chocolate doesn't make you fat!
A study published in The American Journal of Medicine looked at 13,626 non-diabetic adults over the age of 20 from 2005-2014. They investigated their chocolate consumption and then measured their body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. They used some fancy mathematic models (multivariable linear regression) to see the correlation between the total amount of chocolate consumed each day and their body fat. Like all good studies, they controlled for sociodemographic (including income status, race, sexual preference and education), lifestyle (smoking, drinking exercising), health-related and dietary factors.
Now the big question. Why? It's possible that people who eat greater amounts of chocolate may consume less fat. Chocolate contains more sugar than fat. It may be that the flavonoids found in chocolate might act as fat-reducing agents. Another theory is that people who are overweight may be reducing their chocolate intake to try and lose weight. This is doubtful because this study looked at weight gain over time. Finally, it might be that overweight people underreported their chocolate intake for fear of being judged. This is also doubtful because of the long time of the study.
I'm just happy to be reading some good news.