If you want to lose weight, it may not be all about stepping away from the chocolate and embracing salads – at least not according to research in the International Archives of Medicine.
A study by German scientists found chocolate can help you lose weight, with the participants who ate chocolate while on a diet losing more weight than those who did not.
Researchers instructed one group of participants, aged 19-67, to stick to a low-carb diet and eat 42 grams of chocolate (with 81% of cocoa) per day and another group to eat the same diet without the chocolate.
Unsurprisingly, the group who ate a low-carb diet lost weight, but amazingly the group who ate chocolate as well lost 10% more than them.
Johannes Bohannon, research director at the Institute of Diet and Health, wrote: “Subjects of the chocolate intervention group experienced the easiest and most successful weight loss. Even though the measurable effect of this diet occurred with a delay, the weight reduction of this group exceeded the results of the low-carb group by 10% after only three weeks.
“Moreover, the subjects of the chocolate group found a significant improvement in their well-being (physically and mentally).”
Johannes concluded: “Consumption of chocolate with a high cocoa content can significantly increase the success of weight-loss diets. The weight-loss effect of this diet occurs with a certain delay. Long-term weight-loss, however, seems to occur easier and more successfully by adding chocolate.”