Eat More Chocolate!

Daily chocolate intake linked to lower risk of diabetes, heart disease

. . . Compared with participants who did not eat chocolate every day, those who did were found to have reduced insulin resistance and improved liver enzyme levels. The effect was stronger the higher the chocolate consumption, the team reports.

The findings remained after accounting for participants' age, sex, education, lifestyle, and dietary factors that could affect the results.

Dietary factors included intake of tea and coffee rich in the antioxidants polyphenols, which the researchers say have the potential to spur chocolate's benefits for cardiometabolic risk.

And coffee too? Does this officially mean that doctors and nutritionists were wrong about everything?

Cardiometabolic risk refers to a person's likelihood of developing diabetes, heart disease, or stroke.

Participants who ate chocolate were more physically active, younger, and more highly educated than those who did not eat chocolate, according to the authors.

 Huh? I thought they controlled for "age, sex, education, lifestyle" etc?

Prof. Stranges and colleagues say their findings suggest that chocolate consumption may reduce the risk of developing cardiometabolic disorders by improving liver enzyme levels and protecting against insulin resistance.

 Does skin absorption work, too?

"Given the growing body of evidence, including our own study, cocoa-based products may represent an additional dietary recommendation to improve cardiometabolic health; however, observational results need to be supported by robust trial evidence.

Potential applications of this knowledge include recommendations by healthcare professionals to encourage individuals to consume a wide range of phytochemical-rich foods, which can include dark chocolate in moderate amounts."

However, Prof. Stranges notes that it is important to distinguish the difference between chocolate that contains natural cocoa and processed chocolate; the latter is much higher in calories.

Please remember that science seems to be right about half the time, and even less when it's something you really, really want to be true. But until they disprove it, I'm going to eat more chocolate!

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links. The mother of all babe lists, Wombat-socho's "Rule 5 Sunday: May Flowers"  is up at The Other McCain.