The chocolate diet worked on mice \u2013 can it work for humans too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers at Penn State University say that cocoa powder could potentially help those suffering liver damage due to obesity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nutritionists already know that cocoa, the primary ingredient in chocolate, has relatively high levels of fiber, iron and antioxidants \u2014 despite the fact that it\u2019s usually mixed with large amounts of sugar, a major factor in weight gain and bad health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study, which gave chocolate to high-fat-fed mice, aimed to facilitate weight loss as well as determine how obese individuals can improve their overall health, particularly in terms of non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease, which affects more than 3 million Americans per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile it is typically considered an indulgence food because of its high sugar and fat content, epidemiological and human-intervention studies have suggested that chocolate consumption is associated with reduced risk of cardio-metabolic diseases, including stroke, coronary heart disease and Type 2 diabetes,\u201d lead study author Joshua Lambert, a professor of food science at Penn\u2019s College of Agricultural Sciences, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, it made sense to investigate whether cocoa consumption had an effect on non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease, which is commonly associated with human obesity,\u201d Lambert said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The findings, which were published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, revealed that by supplementing cocoa powder in their diets, the mice gained weight at a rate 21% lower than those who did not receive doses of cocoa. They also had lower spleen weights \u2014 an indicator of reduced inflammation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After eight weeks of chocolate supplementation, those mice showed 28% less fat in their livers compared to control mice, 56% lower levels of oxidative stress and 75% lower levels of damage to the liver\u2019s DNA \u2014 all of which contribute to inflammation, cancer and other health concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDoing the calculations, for people it works out to about 10 tablespoons of cocoa powder a day,\u201d Lambert said. \u201cOr, if you follow the directions on the Hershey\u2019s box of cocoa powder, that\u2019s about five cups of hot cocoa a day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lambert suggests eating low or no-sugar cocoa instead of high-calorie snack foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis exchange is potentially beneficial, especially in combination with a healthy overall diet and increased physical activity,\u201d Lambert said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you go to the gym and work out, and your reward is you go home and have a cup of cocoa, that may be something that helps get you off the couch and moving around,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The chocolate diet worked on mice \u2013 can it work for humans too? Researchers at Penn State University say that cocoa powder could potentially help those suffering liver damage due to obesity. Nutritionists already know that cocoa, the primary ingredient in chocolate, has relatively high levels of fiber, iron and antioxidants \u2014 despite the fact that it\u2019s usually mixed with large amounts of sugar, a major factor in weight gain and bad health. The study, which gave chocolate to high-fat-fed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":406,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions\/406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthnews.zone\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}