Eating milk chocolate every day may sound like a recipe for weight gain.
But in a new study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, researchers found a high intake of chocolate during the morning hours could help to burn fat and reduce blood sugar.
They found that older women eating a concentrated amount of chocolate during a narrow window of time in the morning may help the body burn fat and decrease blood sugar levels.
To find out about the effects of eating milk chocolate at different times of day, researchers examined 19 women who consumed either 100g of chocolate in the morning (within one hour after waking time) or at night (within one hour before bedtime).
They compared weight gain and many other measures to no chocolate intake.
The researchers found that among the women studied, morning or nighttime chocolate intake did not lead to weight gain; eating chocolate in the morning or in the evening can influence hunger and appetite, microbiota composition, sleep and more.
A high intake of chocolate during the morning hours could help to burn fat and reduce blood glucose levels. Evening/night chocolate altered next-morning resting and exercise metabolism.
These findings highlight that not only ‘what’ but also ‘when’ we eat can impact physiological mechanisms involved in the regulation of body weight.
The study volunteers did not gain weight despite increasing caloric intake. These results show that chocolate reduced ad libitum energy intake, consistent with the observed reduction in hunger, appetite and the desire for sweets shown in previous studies
If you care about blood sugar health, please read studies about this eating habit may cause weight gain, high blood sugar and findings of this protein snack at night can increase morning blood sugar level.
For more information about blood sugar control, please see recent studies about this hormone linked to higher blood sugar in type 2 diabetes and results showing that blood sugar levels linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
The study is published in The FASEB Journal. One author of the study is Frank A. J. L. Scheer, PhD, MSc.
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