A study by clinicians at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has indicated that chocolate may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
It has long been suggested that chocolate can both be good and bad for health. Chocolate contains a complex mixture of chemicals called polyphenols that have been reported to reduce the risk of death from coronary heart disease, cancer and stroke. However, because of the concern that chocolate may affect blood sugar and lead to weight gain, people with diabetes have been advised not to eat it.

Two studies using chocolate in patients with diabetes have been performed by research dietitian Duane Mellor, at Hull Royal Infirmary. In the first, patients ate a single small amount of a specially formulated dark chocolate and the health of blood vessels was studied. The dark chocolate improved the health of the blood vessel within one hour and this was maintained for two hours.

In the second study patients with diabetes were given chocolate for four months - two months of a special dark chocolate and two months of eating a white chocolate without the polyphenols. This showed that giving people 45g of chocolate every day did not lead to weight gain or affect the person's diabetes. When looking at the effects of the different type of chocolate it was found that the dark chocolate improved the good HDL cholesterol in the blood that would help reduce the risk of someone having a heart attack.

Professor Steve Atkin, who supervised the study is a Consultant Endocrinologist at the Trust, said: "These are the first trials that have given people with diabetes chocolate to see if it is good or bad for them. We have shown that dark chocolate can be good and if eaten sensibly can potentially have health improving effects. We also looked at the effect of quality of life in the patients that ate the chocolate and it came as no surprise that eating chocolate of both types made people feel better!"

Duane Mellor, the research dietitian who undertook the study said: "We are now confident that chocolate can have both short and long term health benefits for people with diabetes, but this is with dark chocolate.

"We know that many people prefer milk chocolate, so we are starting a trial looking at the health effects of milk chocolate compared to dark chocolate. We have a large amount of chocolate here and are looking for volunteers with diabetes who are willing to help eat it, and take part in our study."

The research team is going to conduct further studies exploring the medical benefits of milk chocolate for patients with Type 2 diabetes. Anyone who has type 2 diabetes and who would like to take part in the study should contact Professor Steve Atkin's research team (Duane or Anneli) at Hull Royal Infirmary on 675387 or 675329.