In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleHow Was This Study Conducted?What Did This Study Find?How Does This Apply to Real Life?
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In This Article
How Was This Study Conducted?
What Did This Study Find?
How Does This Apply to Real Life?
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Photo:Getty Images. EatingWell design.
Getty Images. EatingWell design.
If you love chocolate, you’re not alone. In 2023, Americans spent almost $26 billion on chocolate, and chocolate sales have increased 5.8% year-over-year.And while we knowdark chocolatecan have some health benefits for your heart and brain, it’s been less clear if eating chocolate has any link to type 2 diabetes—for better or for worse.
After all, we know that eating too much sugar and saturated fat can be acontributing cause of diabetes, and chocolate contains both. But chocolate can also have some health benefits—especially dark chocolate.
Researchers from Harvard were also curious to know if eating chocolate has any influence on type 2 diabetes risk. So they conducted a study that was published on December 4, 2024, inThe BMJ—formerlyThe British Medical Journal.Here’s what they found.
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The years from which data were analyzed were 1986-2018 (NHS), 1991-2021 (NHSII) and 1986 to 2020 (HPFS). Participants in both the NHS and NHSII were female nurses. The HPFS was made up of male health professionals, including doctors from various specialties of medicine. After baseline data was collected, participants filled out updated questionnaires every two years.
TheBMJstudy was split into two parts. For the first part, researchers looked at total chocolate consumption and whether there is a link between it and the development of diabetes. For this part of the study, the analysis included data from more than 192,000 participants, all of whom were free of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes when baseline data was collected. The average age across all three studies was 47 at baseline.
In the previous three studies, participants filled out food frequency questionnaires every four years. This included how often and how much chocolate they ate. In all three studies, the first few years only included general questions about chocolate consumption. It wasn’t until 2006 that questions about specific types of chocolate consumption were asked.
While analyzing the links between chocolate consumption and diabetes, researchers considered many variables, including ones that might influence diabetes risk. This included race/ethnicity, body weight, waist circumference, smoking status,alcohol consumption, menopause status and hormone use, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, education level, physical activity and family history of diabetes. It also included overall diet quality, which was graded using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI). A high score on the AHEI reflects a varied eating pattern consisting of lots of whole foods, like theMediterranean diet.
Diabetes diagnoses were self-reported in the biennial follow-up questionnaires and were then confirmed with additional questionnaires asking about lab results, symptoms and treatments.
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After adjusting for potential lifestyle and dietary risk factors, researchers found that participants who consumed five or more servings per week of any chocolate showed a 10% lower relative risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those who never or rarely consumed chocolate.
For the second analysis that was broken down according to chocolate type, researchers found that dark chocolate, but not milk chocolate or white chocolate, was associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. Specifically, people who consumed at least five servings of dark chocolate per week had a 21% lower rate of type 2 diabetes compared to those who never or rarely ate dark chocolate.
Researchers went even deeper and found that those with a higher diet quality based on the AHEI scores showed even stronger associations between a minimum of five servings of dark chocolate per week and diabetes risk—a 34% lower risk of diabetes for those with higher diet quality compared to those with lower-quality diets.
Another finding from this analysis was that milk chocolate consumption was significantly associated with more weight gain than dark chocolate consumption.
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So what does this all mean? Well, first, just because dark chocolate has health benefits that milk and white chocolates don’t, that doesn’t mean you should eat unlimited amounts of it. You want to aim for a balanced, varied diet, encompassing a variety of foods. That way, you get the wide range of nutrients you need for good health and disease prevention. This study examined chocolate intake according to serving size, so if you’re eating dark chocolate every day, stick to the serving size—about 1 to 2 ounces (check the label to see how much that is).
When you choose chocolate, make it dark—at least most of the time. One thing this study did not do was break down the percentages of cocoa in the dark chocolate and compare each of them against diabetes risk. It lumps all dark chocolate together.
You’ll typically know a chocolate is dark based on its percentage of cocoa—that and the label will say that it’s dark chocolate. And while there seems to be no conclusive agreement on what minimal percentage of cocoa makes chocolate dark, know that the higher the percentage of cocoa, the more health benefits it’s likely to have. The darker the chocolate, the more bitter it will taste as well.
If you’re currently a milk chocolate lover and want to become a lover of dark chocolate, start with lower cocoa percentages and work your way up over time. It’s also helpful to have additions to the chocolate to help your palate adjust—like nuts or mint flavoring. Plus,nuts add more health benefits, so it’s a win-win.
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The Bottom Line
If you’ve got a sweet tooth, a little bit of dark chocolate each day should fit easily into that approach.
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SourcesEatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.National Confectioners Association.Everyday insights.Liu B, Zong G, Zhu L, et al.Chocolate intake and risk of type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort studies.BMJ. 2024. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-078386
Sources
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.National Confectioners Association.Everyday insights.Liu B, Zong G, Zhu L, et al.Chocolate intake and risk of type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort studies.BMJ. 2024. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-078386
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.
National Confectioners Association.Everyday insights.Liu B, Zong G, Zhu L, et al.Chocolate intake and risk of type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort studies.BMJ. 2024. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-078386
National Confectioners Association.Everyday insights.
Liu B, Zong G, Zhu L, et al.Chocolate intake and risk of type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort studies.BMJ. 2024. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-078386
