Saturday, March 31, 2012

Please Pass the Chocolate

Ah, I didn't win the lottery.  So sad, I had such wonderful plans.


In this week's happiest of news, we learn that people who eat chocolate more weigh less.  Who know?  Yes, I went out and got me some chocolate, per the New York Times suggestion. 


Dr. Golomb’s study, published in Archives of Internal Medicine and financed by the National Institutes of Health, involved roughly 1,000 adults. The researchers looked at data on how often they exercised, the amount and type of calories they ate — including a breakdown of the types of dietary fat they consumed — and how their health and weight related to their chocolate intake. On average, the subjects were middle-aged, exercised about three times a week and ate chocolate about twice a week. There was no breakdown of the kinds of chocolate they ate, whether dark, milk or white.

The people who ate chocolate the most frequently, despite eating more calories and exercising no differently from those who ate the least chocolate, tended to have lower B.M.I.’s. There was a difference of roughly five to seven pounds between subjects who ate five servings of chocolate a week and those who ate none, Dr. Golomb said.

So nice to read something positive.  I'm still recovering from the sadness of learning that diet soda is bad for your heart (are there no guiltless pleasures?) and that red meat is also on the no-no list.  

Off to eat my chocolate....

8 comments:

George Dawson, MD, DFAPA said...

I eat dark chocolate everyday so I am definitely an outlier compared to this sample. I also ingest grape juice and green and black tea every day.

Here is an excellent source of information on the polyphenol content of foods:

http://www.phenol-explorer.eu/foods?options%5Bpage%5D=2

Just click on the food button to look at specific foods including several kinds of chocolate.

George Dawson, MD

Sarebear said...

yUMM, I love these kinds of studies.

Krystyna Rawicz said...

Nice to have stumbled across your blog. I'm enjoying it!

Anonymous said...

Chocolate eating can be traced back thousands of years so I think there is not much to worry about. I am certain that it does not fall into the same category as McDonalds. Also, some of the people with what you would think are the healthiest lifestyles and diets do not seem immune to the diseases that they think are reserved for the rest of us who are a bit lazier and a bit less worried about the the extra glass of wine with dinner. Diseases don't seem to check what we have been eating for the last 20 years unless it is way off the charts. Some of the healthiest people I know are dying.

blogbehave said...

My kind of medical advice!

frenetic said...

I fully embrace chocolate! Yumm

Diet soda - I have a Diet Pepsi habit, I have been trying to quit for years... I am quite addicted to that one. But once again, I will do my best to give it up.

Red meat - not a problem. I only eat it once a week at the most. Maybe bi-monthly. I am primarily vegetarian for 85% of the time.

BPLadybug said...

This is interesting. I have a skinny younger sister - her BMI is probably 19 or 20. She exercizes, she watches what she eats, and she DOES eat good chocolate.

I on the other hand seldom eat chocolate, am over weight but I have gained a LOT on my meds. When I indulge I crave more of the carb/dairy smooth creamy type items which are higher in calories than a few squares of chocolate.

Anonymous said...

Well the meds will kill you a lot faster than any amount of chocolate ever will. I went off that atypicals that doctors love, that dull your senses to the point that a pound of pasta covered in cheez whiz tastes as good as bottle of fine wine, or better. If I am going to die, they will not find me surrounded by cheez whiz.