Those who eat chocolate have a lower body mass index, study shows.

COURTESY FLICKR// eszter A recent study showed that consumer chocolate can lead to lower body mass index.

People who regularly eat chocolate, have a lower body mass index, a study by U.S medical researchers suggests.

The study, carried out at the Unviersity of California and partically funded by the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, surveyed 1,017 healthy men and women aged 20 to 85. Who were asked to fill out forms about their diets and lifestyles.

"We had data from a full food frequency questionnaire and found that [these people] didn't necessarily eat more fruits and vegetables, and they ate more saturated fat," said Dr. Beatrice Golomb one of the study's authors in an interview with The Huffington Post. "But with or without adjustment for a range of other factors, we found the more frequent chocolate eaters had lower BMI."

The study found that for dark chocolate in particular, anything over 70 per cent cocoa content, was better for the person.

In past studies, dark chocolate has been linked to reducing the risk of diabetes, stroke and heart attacks.

“The study is provocative and confirms what we have been calling the chocolate/obesity paradox: Despite chocolate’s high caloric load, its regular intake does not result in weight gain,” said Dr. Franz Messerli, director of the hypertension program at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York. In an interview with ABC News, Dr. Messerli, who was not invovled in the study said: “to put it pointedly, chocolate could be called a lazy man’s exercise.”

The quantity was not tested in the study, it is still unclear how much chocolate should be eaten in one sitting. According to an  ABC News article, the study only examined how often chocolate was consumed by the subjects.

"I joke that chocolate is my favourite vegetable," Golomb said in an email to CBC News.

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