Blurbs are quick 2 minute reads under 300 words based on some interesting find here at Ketogeek and would share with you guys! These are short and quick practical takeaways from some of the studies we read. Science is always growing and piling on so one study or write-up doesn't equate to something set in stone. Lets continue to learn!
QUICK PRACTICAL ANALYSIS
In this randomized crossover trial(1), dark chocolate seems to fare better than milk chocolate in reducing energy intake at a meal 2 hours later. 2 hours is a good time period for such an intervention. Participants were given 100g or 3.5oz of Dark(70% chocolate) versus milk(30% chocolate) with dark chocolate having 50 more calories as it had 10g more fat, 2.9g more protein and 14g less sugar.
What they found was that energy intake after 2 hours at an ad lib meal was reduced by 17% using dark chocolate compared to milk chocolate and overall an 8% reduction when the energy intake from both interventional chocolate and ad lib meal were added. It was interesting to note that the desire to eat something sweet and overall satiety was also lowered in the dark chocolate group.
SOME POTENTIAL MECHANISMS
- Higher fat content & Lower added refined sugar leading to different gastrointestinal transit times (Most likely more satiating)
- Unlikely Protein as it’s a 2.9g difference only
- More intense and bitter flavor that can impact energy intake
- More? Comment below!
OUR TAKEAWAY
This is a short term study but hypothetically, we think that darker chocolate with slightly higher fat content and no added sugar or refined carbohydrates would fare better at reducing energy intake. Added sugar and refined carbohydrates most likely phase separate(fat and added sugars separate) in the stomach, with added sugars quickly hydrolyzing and transitioning through the gastrointestinal tract faster, thereby reducing satiety while bitter compounds potentially help with this effect in a cumulative manner. This would probably result in an endocrine profile that reflects that as well.
OUR APPLICATION
CITATIONS
FAHAD AHMAD
Fahad is the founder of Ketogeek and hosts the Ketogeek Podcast, a world class health show about food, nutrition and health. He is into resistance training, Ashtanga yoga, calisthenics and various forms of training styles. Armed with a idealistic goals distilled in a world of realism, his goal is to help the world make a better place. He leads a life of extreme generalism or as he describes it, 'The Renaissance Lifestyle'.
“It never ceases to amaze me how prosaic, pedestrian, unimaginative people can persistently pontificate about classical grammatical structure as though it's fucking rocket science. These must be the same people who hate Picasso, because he couldn't keep the paint inside the lines and the colors never matched the numbers.”
― Abbe Diaz