Chocolate 'may help keep people slim'
By Michelle Roberts
Health reporter, BBC News
Chocolate contains antioxidants but is also high in fat and sugar. People who eat chocolate regularly tend to be thinner, new research suggests.
The findings come from a study of nearly 1,000 US people that looked at diet, calorie intake and body mass index (BMI) - a measure of obesity.
It found those who ate chocolate a few times a week were, on average, slimmer than those who ate it occasionally.
Even though chocolate is loaded with calories, it contains ingredients that may favor weight loss rather than fat synthesis, scientists believe.
Despite boosting calorie intake, regular chocolate consumption was related to lower BMI in the study, which is published in Archives of Internal Medicine.
The link remained even when other factors, like how much exercise individuals did, were taken into account.
And it appears it is how often you eat chocolate that is important, rather than how much of it you eat. The study found no link with quantity consumed.
According to the researchers, there is only one chance in a hundred that their findings could be explained by chance alone.
Lead author Dr Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California at San Diego, said: "Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight."
This is not the first time scientists have suggested that chocolate may be healthy for us.
Other studies have claimed chocolate may be good for the heart.
Consumption of certain types of chocolate has been linked to some favorable changes in blood pressure, insulin sensitivity and cholesterol level.
And chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, does contain antioxidants which can help to mop up harmful free radicals - unstable chemicals that can damage our cells.
Dr Golomb and her team believe that antioxidant compounds, called catechins, can improve lean muscle mass and reduce weight - at least studies in rodents would suggest this might be so.
Mice fed for 15 days with epicatechin (present in dark chocolate) had improved exercise performance and observable changes to their muscle composition.
They say clinical trials are now needed in humans to see if this is the case.
But before you reach for a chocolate bar, there are still lots of unanswered questions. And in the absence of conclusive evidence, experts advise caution.
While there's no harm in allowing yourself a treat like chocolate now and again, eating too much might be harmful because it often contains a lot of sugar and fat too.
And if you are looking to change your diet, you are likely to benefit most from eating more fresh fruits and vegetables.
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Popcorn is healthier than fruits: Study
Kounteya SinhaKounteya Sinha, TNN
Mar 27, 2012, 03.20AM IST
NEW DELHI: Popcorn - your regular partner every time you hit a movie theatre - seems to be the latest "nutritional gold nugget".
Scientists report that popcorn, which is a 100% unprocessed whole grain, contains more of the highly healthy antioxidant substances called polyphenols than fruits and vegetables, if it isn't dipped in butter, oil or salt.
The hulls of popcorn - the part that everyone hates for its tendency to get caught in the teeth - has been found to have the highest concentration of polyphenols and fibre. The levels of polyphenols rivaled those in nuts and were up to 15 times greater than whole-grain tortilla chips.
Joe Vinson from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, who has been a pioneer in analyzing healthful components in chocolate, nuts and other common food items, presented these findings at the American Chemical Society's (ACS) scientific society on Sunday.
Vinson said one serving of popcorn will provide more than 70% of the daily intake of whole grain needed by an adult.
"Popcorn may be the perfect snack food. It is 100% unprocessed whole grain as against all other grains which are actually processed and diluted with other ingredients - meaning only 51% of the weight of the product is whole grain. The average person only gets about half a serving of whole grains a day, and popcorn could fill that gap in a very pleasant way," Vinson added.
Jyoti Arora, head of nutrition at Artemis Health Institute, said popcorn's high content of fibre makes it nutritious and healthy.
"Whole grains like popcorn are high in fibre that helps in relieving constipation and leads to weight loss, better blood sugar control besides keeping cholesterol levels under check," Arora said.
Vinson, however, cautioned that the finding should not make people give up fruits and vegetables.
"Popcorn cannot replace fresh fruits and vegetables in a healthy diet. Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins and other nutrients that are critical for good health, but are missing from popcorn," he added.
Vinson explained that the same concentration principle applies to dried fruit, which holds a polyphenol edge over regular fruit.
Previous studies found low concentrations of free polyphenols in popcorn, but Vinson's team conducted the first study to calculate total polyphenols in popcorn. "The amounts of these antioxidants were much higher than previously believed," he said.
Vinson cautioned that the way people prepare and serve popcorn can quickly put a dent in its healthful image. If cooked in a pot full of oil, slathered on butter or the fake butter used in many movie theaters and poured on salt and eaten as kettle corn, the end result could become a nutritional nightmare - popcorn suffused with fat and calories.
"Air-popped popcorn has the lowest number of calories. Microwave popcorn has twice as many calories as air-popped, and if you pop your own with oil, this has twice as many calories as air-popped popcorn. About 43% of microwave popcorn is fat, compared to 28% if you pop the corn in oil yourself," Vinson added.
The new study found that the amount of polyphenols found in popcorn was up to 300 mg a serving compared to 114 mg for a serving of sweet corn and 160 mg for all fruits per serving. Besides, one serving of popcorn would provide 13% of an average intake of polyphenols a day per person in the US.
Fruits provide 255 mg per day of polyphenols and vegetables provide 218 mg per day to the average US diet. Polyphenols are more concentrated in popcorn, which averages only about 4% water, while polyphenols are diluted in the 90% water that makes up many fruits and vegetables
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