by Elizabeth Olivier

Created on: September 01, 2010   Last Updated: September 02, 2010

For years, the myth has been spread that chocolate is a diet buster and absolutely has to be removed from your diet to lose weight.  Whether you’re a chocoholic or just indulge from time to time, you should know that today’s research into chocolate is now connecting its consumption to lower weight.  While moderation is still key, eating dark chocolate on a daily basis is more likely to result in weight loss than weight gain.

Those conducting the studies still don’t have conclusive answers for “why” chocolate helps, but here are three theories that might explain.

People Have a Sweet Tooth

People tend to crave sugar, especially when they are used to eating it.  Sugar is empty calories.  It has no nutritional value, but does supply your body with energy.   The human body will crave sugar beyond its energy needs and begin to store the excess calories as fat.  It has been theorized that dark chocolate can satisfy the body’s desire for sweets without consuming as many calories.  This effect may be a result of stabilizing blood sugar levels or completely psychological, but the reduced consumption of sweets does reduce how much energy is stored by the body.

People Need Better Nutrition

When people don’t get the proper nutrition from their diets, the body will continue to seek out more food, looking for the missing vitamins and minerals.  While the body has the best of intentions, this seeking often leads to over-eating with little or no success because of all the nutritionally void foods that stock the average home pantry or restaurant menu.  However, cocoa contains more nutrients than traditionally recognized.  If eating chocolate can meet the body’s need for nutrition, the body will stop searching and the amount of calories in a person’s diet can be significantly reduced.

Chocolate Influences Genes

Researchers have observed that people who consumed chocolate have a high rate of metabolism.  During studies on rats, researchers have observed that rats who consumed cocoa had lower weight and body fat.  Looking more closely, the rats eating cocoa were found to have genes that help with fat storage turned off (suppressed) and genes that help with fat burning turned on (activated).  In essence, researchers observed a genetic reason for the rats on chocolate to have a higher metabolism.  The possibility is that chocolate has the same influence on human genes as in rats.

Of course, moderation is still important.  Binging on almost any food will lead to weight gain.  On the other hand, regular consumption of chocolate while dieting can actually help meet weight loss goals.  Which theory is actually right doesn’t matter as much as the fact that chocolate can be a beneficial part of a balanced life.

Learn more about this author, Elizabeth Olivier.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.