Written by Clay Smith
Spoon Feed
Quick, grab some dark chocolate this Christmas to protect yourself from developing type 2 diabetes (T2D)!
I always told my mom chocolate was good for me…
Flavonoids are associated with reduced risk of T2D. And what’s packed with flavonoids? Yup… dark chocolate. Observational studies have conflicted on the impact of chocolate consumption on T2D. Let’s settle this issue to give you a guilt-free Christmas morning.
Using three huge prospective databases – Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), NHS II, and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study – researchers found that eating ≥5 servings/week of any kind of chocolate was associated with a 10% reduction in risk of T2D. But consumption of dark chocolate had a 21% reduction. Milk chocolate was associated with increased risk for weight gain.
Although these data were collected prospectively, this was technically a retrospective query, which is fraught with potential confounders… but I am ignoring that, since the conclusion is that I get to eat more chocolate.
How will this change my practice?
Let’s be honest, I will rapidly eat any chocolate that is in my stocking this morning – whether dark or milk chocolate. I mean, it’s Christmas. This is especially encouraging news for us dark chocolate lovers. Dark chocolate has more flavonoids and less sugar and milk than milk chocolate. And, everyone knows it tastes better 🍫. We have a comments section if you have evidence that shows this statement is wrong :).
In all seriousness, a Merry Christmas to you. To those who are working this morning, thanks for serving our patients. I hope you have time grab a bite of dark chocolate during your shift, and maybe even have time to pee.
Source
Chocolate intake and risk of type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort studies. BMJ. 2024 Dec 4;387:e078386. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-078386. PMID: 39631943; PMCID: PMC11616007.
