A new study, led by Brigham and Women’s Hospital scientists, suggests that having chocolate in the morning or in the evening/night results in differential effects on hunger and appetite, lipid oxidation, fasting glucose, microbiota, and sleep and temperature rhythms; the consumption of a rather high amount of chocolate (100 g) concentrated in a narrow timing window in the morning could help to burn body fat and to decrease glucose levels in postmenopausal women.

“Milk chocolate has a name for contributing to weight gain due to its high fat, sugar and caloric content,” said Dr. Frank Scheer, a neuroscientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and his colleagues.

“Chocolate eating habit has been associated with long-term weight gain in a dose-dependent manner, especially in postmenopausal females who are particularly vulnerable to weight gain.”

“Nevertheless, a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials has shown that chocolate supplementation during several weeks does not change body weight or body fat distribution.”

“Most of these clinical trials have been performed with dark chocolate (35-85% of cocoa), while milk chocolate, with less cocoa content (10-35%), is still the basis of most popular candy bars and sweet treats.”

“We hypothesized that having a high-energy and high-sugar food such as chocolate during a short-term period of two weeks in the morning or in the evening/at night, may affect energy balance and differentially impact body weight or body fat distribution due to changes in energy intake, substrate oxidation, sleep- and circadian-related variables, or microbiota composition and their metabolic activity.”

To find out about the effects of eating chocolate at different times of day, the researchers conducted a randomized, controlled, cross-over trial of 19 postmenopausal women.

The participants consumed either 100 g of milk chocolate in the morning (within one hour after waking time) or at night (within one hour before bedtime).

The results show that 14 days of chocolate intake did not increase body weight.

Chocolate consumption decreased hunger and desire for sweets, reduced energy intake, but did not fully compensate for the extra energy contribution of chocolate.

Daily levels of cortisol, a stress hormone released by the adrenal glands, were lower when eating chocolate in the morning than at evening/night.

Furthermore, morning chocolate decreased fasting glucose and induced lipid oxidation.

Evening/night chocolate altered next-morning resting and exercise metabolism.

Both timings of chocolate intake resulted in differential microbiota profiles and function.

“Our findings highlight that not only ‘what’ but also ‘when’ we eat can impact physiological mechanisms involved in the regulation of body weight,” Dr. Scheer said.

“Our volunteers did not gain weight despite increasing caloric intake,” said Dr. Marta Garaulet, a visiting scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“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.”

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Pancreatic disorders and Therapy