Is It True That Regular Black Chocolate Consumption Can Help Reduce Diabetes Risk?

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JAKARTA - When faced with a choice between milk chocolate and black chocolate, another study suggests that eating dark chocolate is likely a more beneficial option.

According to a new study, people who consume at least five servings of black chocolate per week have a 21 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared to people who rarely or never consume chocolate. Consuming five servings of chocolate of any type every week is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes by 10 percent, compared to not consuming at all.

"Our findings show that not all chocolate is made the same," said lead author Binkai Liu, a doctoral student at the Department of Nutrition at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, in a WebMD news release, Thursday, December 19.

"For anyone who likes chocolate, it's a reminder that making small choices, such as choosing black chocolate instead of milk chocolate, can make a positive difference to their health."

The researchers noted that previous research on black chocolate consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes had inconsistent findings on whether black chocolate was beneficial or not. And few of these studies examine the difference between milk chocolate intake and dark chocolate.

The new findings were published in the British medical journal BMJ and analyzed data from 192,208 nurses and health workers who regularly reported their eating habits through surveys and did not suffer from type 2 diabetes from the start. People with heart problems are also excluded, as are people with cancer.

Participants were asked how often they ate "one stem or brown wrapper", and the researchers reported that they calculated each dish as 1 ounce, calling it a standard portion of food. One ounce is equivalent to a small piece of chocolate.

Not surprisingly, the more people eat chocolate, the greater the chance of weight gain, even though researchers say this is the most prominent among those who consume chocolate milk.

"We are shocked by the apparent difference between the impact of dark chocolate and milk chocolate on the risk of diabetes and long-term weight management," said co-author Qi Sun, ScD, MD, a professor of medical madya, nutrition, and Harvard epidemiology.

"Although chocolate black and chocolate milk have the same levels of calories and saturated fat, it seems that polyphenols rich in black chocolate can offset the effects of saturated fat and sugar on weight gain and diabetes. This is an interesting difference worth pursuing further."