Chocoholics need not put on weight – and may even benefit from their habit, according to a new study.
The Spanish research involved teenagers and found that those who ate the most chocolate tended to have less body fat than others.
They also had less fat around the middle of the body.
The research involved more than 1,400 teenagers – and it is not clear if the finding would apply to older adults. But the researchers say there was no evidence of different affects according to the age or maturity of the teenagers, who were aged 14 to 17.
The researchers say the findings do not mean chocoholics can eat unlimited amounts of the substance.
Researcher Magdalena Cuenca-García, of the University of Granada, Spain, said that although chocolate is rich in sugar and fat, it is also rich in flavonoid plant chemicals – and other studies had found it could cut the risk of heart disease.
The latest findings have been published in the journal <i>Nutrition</i>.
They come from a European Union backed project involving teenagers in nine countries.
Ms Cuenca-García said: “In moderate quantities, chocolate can be good for you, as our study has shown. But, undoubtedly, excessive consumption is prejudicial. As they say: you can have too much of a good thing."
Association between chocolate consumption and fatness in European adolescents Nutrition November 2013 [abstract]
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