Preventing diabetes have to do with living a healthy lifestyle, such as avoiding added sugar, regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight. But a study in the European Journal of Nutrition found a unique way to reduce the risk of diabetes, which is by drinking hot chocolate before bed.
Studies conducted on mice showed that cocoa powder can reduce the inflammation that lead to diabetes. Mice used in the study had previously been given a high-fat diet is a risk factor of type 2 diabetes.
Although only conducted experiments on mice, but the researchers believe that these findings can be applied to humans. If converted to cocoa powder for human consumption is as much as 10 teaspoons, or about four to five cups of hot chocolate in a period of 10 weeks.
According to the researchers, dark chocolate rich in flavanols, a chemical compound derived from plants that can improve blood flow by widening blood vessels.
Study author Joshua Lambert professor at Pennsylvania State University expressed surprise because getting a larger effect than chocolate. Previously she thought chocolate had a good effect on weight loss, but in fact the effect is even greater reduction in inflammation and heart disease.
Inflammation is one of the causes of type 2 diabetes because it increases insulin resistance. While this study showed that mice fed chocolate had lower levels of inflammation compared with mice that did not.
In addition, the study also found that cocoa powder can reduce the fat content of the liver is called as triglycerides by a third. High triglyceride levels associated with inflammation and diabetes.
Lambert says, rats were fed cocoa powder also experienced a slight decrease in body weight, but was significant in reducing their risk of developing diabetes.