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A new study had chocoholics in a frenzy today: eating chocolate was correlated with weight loss. In a self-reported study of 1,000 adults lead researcher, Professor Beatrice Golomb, found that those who ate 5 servings a week tended to have a lower Body Mass Index.
A swarm of tweets and headline news seemed to overlook that obvious fact that eating lots of chocolate is not actually healthy:
News: Craving weight loss? Eat chocolate and shed pounds – newjerseynewsroom.com weightlosslicketysplit.com/craving-weight…
— zara (@GetSkinnyFaster) March 28, 2012
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Eating lots of chocolate helps people stay thin, study finds… cbsnews.com/8301-504763_16… via @CBSNews
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) March 28, 2012
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The study, of course, controlled for calorie intake. Meaning that, at the very least, individuals would have to cut out an equal number of calories to balance what they consume in chocolate. To give you an idea of what that looks like, a “special dark” chocolate bar has roughly 4 times the calories of an Apple (228 vs. 65). Additionally, while chocolate may contain chemicals that are good for weight loss, it’s unknown how that balances out with loads of suger.
As a result, the researchers urged moderation and further experimental evidence to see if there was a causal relationship. If Twitter is any indication, that might not happen.