Dark chocolate effects satiety, substrate oxidation, and your gut microbiota.
Dark chocolate is a rich source of antioxidants and minerals, and it generally contains less sugar than milk chocolate. Some research suggests that dark chocolate may help lower the risk of heart disease, reduce inflammation and insulin resistance, and improve brain function.
A recent study looking at the effects of eating chocolate at different times of day, researchers from the Brigham collaborated with investigators at the University of Murcia in Spain. Together, they conducted a randomized, controlled, cross-over trial of 19 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.
“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.
Our results also show that chocolate in the morning decreases fasting glucose. Chocolate may improve glucose homeostasis by slowing carbohydrate digestion and absorption. Indeed, cocoa could reduce the rate and extent of macronutrient digestion by binding to and antagonizing digestive enzymes which may help explain the previously reported inverse relation between chocolate intake and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) incidence.
In general, the “timing” of chocolate intake resulted in differential changes in microbiota profiles and function . These differences were mostly marked by metabolites (SCFAs) produced by the microbiota, indicating that SCFAs might be a good biomarker to explain, at least in part, the differences found among conditions. In addition to the effects on appetite, SCFAs have been associated with beneficial changes in intestinal permeability.
Morning chocolate aiding in inducing increased lipid oxidation ( Fat substrate fuel). These results may also be related to theobromine and other methylxanthines present in chocolate that have been shown to increase thermogenesis and lipid oxidation, or to flavanols (epicatechin or catechin), other foods or beverages with similar contents of epicatechin or catechin that have been shown to increase fat oxidation. As adipose tissue contributes to lipid oxidation, these differences in substrate oxidation may be accounting for the decrease in waist circumference when chocolate was eaten in the morning. Literature shows that good weight loss responders have higher lipid oxidation rates than those experiencing weight relapse, and reduced lipid to carbohydrate oxidation ratio represents the most important factor (more important than other behavioral and physiological factors) in regaining body weight following successful weight loss.
Ref:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/dark-chocolate/
https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1096/fj.202002770RR
