High intake of chocolate in morning helps reduce blood sugar and weight: Study

The investigators conducted a randomized, controlled, cross-over trial of 19 postmenopausal women who consumed either 100g of chocolate in the morning (within one hour after waking time) or at night (within one hour before bedtime). They compared weight gain and many other measures to no chocolate intake.

Researchers report that among the women studied:

• Morning or nighttime chocolate intake did not lead to weight gain;
• Eating chocolate in the morning or in the evening can influence hunger and appetite, microbiota composition, sleep and more;
• A high intake of chocolate during the morning hours could help to burn fat and reduce blood glucose levels.
• Evening/night chocolate altered next-morning resting and exercise metabolism.

This randomized controlled trial study suggests that chocolate, in the morning or in the evening/night, in a narrow window of time (1 h), results in differential effects on hunger and appetite, substrate oxidation, fasting glucose, microbiota composition and function, and sleep and temperature rhythms. The intake of a rather high amount of chocolate (100 g) concentrated in a narrow (1 h) timing window in the morning could help to burn body fat and to decrease glucose levels in postmenopausal women.

"Our findings highlight that not only 'what' but also 'when' we eat can impact physiological mechanisms involved in the regulation of body weight," said Scheer.

"Our volunteers did not gain weight despite increasing caloric intake. Our results show that chocolate reduced ad libitum energy intake, consistent with the observed reduction in hunger, appetite and the desire for sweets shown in previous studies," said Garaulet.