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Chocolate is an amazingly delicious food which has millions of fans all over the world. Dark chocolate is valued highly by many modern nutritionists, mainly due to high content of antioxidants in this food. Antioxidants can provide us anti-aging and anti-cancer properties, that is why it is recommended to consume small amounts of high quality dark chocolate on a regular basis. However, chocolate is known as a high-calorie, fat and sugar-rich food, so the idea of using chocolate for weight loss may sound a little strange. Nevertheless, according to the findings of a new study published earlier this week in the most of world’s mass media, a regular consumption of chocolate in conjunction with regular exercising is linked to being leaner and having lower body mass.
A group of medical researchers led by Beatrice Golomb, an internal medicine doctor at the University of California, San Diego, studied the relations between consumption of chocolate and weight loss. The scientists carried out a survey of over 100 American adults (average age of 57), with different body mass and chocolate eating habits. The BMI of the participants varied from 17 (or being very much underweight) to 50 (morbid obesity). 
All the participants were asked about their usual dark chocolate consumption, some of them revealed eating this foods as much as five times a week, and some turned out to be not much of dark chocolate fans and usually consumed it one or two times a week.
After analyzing all other factors related to the BMI and successful efforts on weight management, the scientists came to a conclusion that those participants who liked consuming moderate amounts of dark chocolate had on average a full point lower BMI compared to those people who did not report about eating dark chocolate. At that, scientists underline that chocolate-lovers did not exercise more or did no other massive weight loss activities compared to chocolate-avoiders. Therefore, the researchers suggested that there is something in dark chocolate, a certain compound, probably, which can assist people burn calories more effectively. The expert group urges for another study on chocolate and weight loss, in order to find out what can this miraculous compound be.
“Our findings – that more frequent chocolate intake is linked to lower BMI – are intriguing,” Beatrice Golomb said to the mass media commenting on the results of the study. At the same time, a great number of nutritionists warn people around the world against increasing their consumption of chocolate for weight loss or other purposes. Nancy Copperman, a chief of Public Health Initiatives at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, point on the fact that chocolate is a food that contains great amounts of saturated fat and sugars, and it is necessary to limit our daily consumption of chocolate down to one ounce. Read more about these findings by the University of California expert group in the March issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.
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