Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes risk

What happened

People who regularly eat dark chocolate have a significantly reduced risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal BMJ. The findings, based on the diets of about 192,000 U.S. adults over 34 years, found no diabetes protection from milk chocolate and a higher risk of weight gain.

Who said what

Study participants who ate at least five one-ounce servings of dark chocolate a week had a 21% lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes — but "we can't say for certain that eating dark chocolate will lower your risk," said co-author Binkai Liu, at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "We can say that eating it is associated with a lower risk."

Still, "at least three other large studies have found that eating chocolate is associated with a reduced likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes," heart disease and high blood pressure, The Washington Post said. Liu's team posited that's because dark chocolate — unlike milk chocolate — contains more than 50% flavonoid-rich cocoa.

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What next?

Dark chocolate may not be a "magic bullet" against diabetes, study lead investigator Qi Sun, also at Harvard, said to The New York Times. But the findings suggest a little bit, with 70% cocoa, can be part of a healthy diet.