Chocolate Compounds May Help Prevent Diabetes, Obesity

shutterstock_152506925There have been several studies that indicate the health benefits of eating dark chocolate. Now, scientists are discovering what ingredients in chocolate might help prevent obesity as well as type-2 diabetes. The report is published in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.

A team of researchers headed by Andrew P. Neilson fed groups of mice with different diets, including high-fat and low-fat diets. Some groups of mice were also fed high-fat diets supplemented with different kinds of flavonols, a compound found abundant in cocoa, the main ingredient of chocolate.

The researchers discovered that feeding mice a particular set of compounds known as oligomeric procyanidins or PC’s to their diet displayed the biggest difference in keeping the weight down in mice fed with a high-fat diet. The compounds also helped improve glucose tolerance. The compounds may also potentially help prevent type-2 diabetes.

The researchers stated that, “Oligomeric PCs appear to possess the greatest antiobesity and antidiabetic bioactivities of the flavanols in cocoa, particularly at the low doses employed for the present study.”

Source: American Chemical Society. “Key chocolate ingredients could help prevent obesity, diabetes.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 April 2014. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140402110000.htm

 

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