It sounds a bit too good to be true: A new study has found people who eat chocolate more frequently tend to be thinner than those who consume the sweet treat less often.
如果是真的就再好不过了：一项新的研究发现常吃巧克力的人要比那些少吃甜食的人更易瘦�?/p>
Researchers asked about 1,000 adults in Southern California how many times a week they ate chocolate along with questions about other types of food and beverages. Body mass index, which is a measure of body fat, was also calculated as part of the study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The participants who ate chocolate more often didn't consume fewer calories overall, or exercise more, than their non-chocoholic counterparts. In fact, the more frequent chocolate eaters consumed more total calories.
研究人员在南加利福尼亚的1000名成人中做了调查，询问他们一周吃几次巧克力和其他的食物及饮料。身高体重指数，作为身体脂肪的测量方式也被纳入到了这个由国际健康研究所主持的研究当中。多吃巧克力的这些实验参与者通常不会比那些非巧克力爱好者消耗的卡路里的更少或者运动更多。事实上，吃越多的巧克力消耗的卡路里总量越多�?/p>
But before people hoping to lose weight indulge in an extra scoop of chocolate fudge swirl, the researchers caution that the study doesn't prove a link between frequent chocolate munching and weight loss.
但是在人们想要在多吃巧克力的情况下减肥之前，研究人员提醒到这个研究并不能证明经常性食用巧克力与减肥之间有必然的联系�?/p>
#p#副标�?e#Rather, the findings suggest that the health benefits of chocolate may be linked to how many times in a given week chocolate is eaten rather than the total amount consumed in that week, says the study's lead researcher, Beatrice Golomb, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Eating a small amount of chocolate each of five days during a week was linked to a lower BMI, even if the person ate more calories overall and didn't exercise more than other participants.
'Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight,' says Dr. Golomb.
圣地亚哥加利福尼亚大学医学院的副教授Beatrice Golomb，这次研究的首席研究员说�?ldquo;这个发现认为巧克力的健康益处可能与每周食用多少次巧克力有关而与一周内所食用的巧克力总量无关。一周五天每天吃少量的巧克力与较低身体质量指数有关，尽管这个人吃的巧克力总量比其他参与多，运动的比他们少。Golomb 博士说：“我们的发现好像增加了一些身体信息，卡路里的构成而不是数量最终决定了他们对体重的影响�?/p>
The findings were published as a research letter in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.
这个研究发现作为一个研究报告被发布在了内科医学周一档案中�?/p>
Dr. Golomb said the weight difference among more frequent chocolate eaters was modest but interesting given that more calories and saturated fat were consumed. Chocolate contains fat in the form of stearic acid.
Golomb 博士说：“经常食用巧克力的人当中存在体重差异是正常的但是有趣的是他们消耗更多的卡路里和饱和脂肪。巧克力包含了硬脂酸类脂肪�?/p>
#p#副标�?e#Other research has shown chocolate's health benefits include a modest reduction in blood pressure and cholesterol.
另一研究表明巧克力的健康作用还包括了降血压和降胆固醇的作用�?/p>
'It's my favorite vegetable,' Dr. Golomb says. She explains that chocolate contains antioxidants like epicatechin, which other research has shown appears to boost the energy-producing elements of the body's cells.
Previous findings from the current study, however, point to a downside from eating chocolate: People who ate more chocolate were more likely to be depressed.
“这是我最喜欢的蔬�?rdquo; Golomb 博士�?她解释说巧克力富含的康氧化物就像表儿茶酸一样。就像其他研究说显示的它对身体细胞当中的能量元素有促进作用。然而，来自最近研究的早先发现指向的是使用巧克力的不利影响：食用更多巧克力的人更容易压抑�?/p>
The study participants on average ate chocolate two times a week and exercised 3.6 times a week. Their average age was 57 and nearly 70% were men. They had an average body mass index of 28, which is considered overweight. The adults in the chocolate study were initially screened for separate research on cholesterol-lowering drugs.
这个研究的参与者平均每周吃两次巧克力并且运�?.6次。他们的平均年龄�?7岁，70%是男士。他们的身体体重指数平均�?8左右，也就是所谓的超重。在巧克力研究实验中的成年人之前在做降胆固醇药物的筛选实验�?/p>
#p#副标�?e#Lauren Graf, a nutritionist at Montefiore Medical Center, in Bronx, N.Y., says if a person is going to eat chocolate, a daily dose of dark chocolate 'probably is the best way to go.' Dark chocolate has a higher concentration of antioxidants than milk chocolate and tends to have less sugar. Many nutritionists and doctors suggest sticking to about an ounce of chocolate a day -- less than a regular-size chocolate bar. (A 1.44-ounce sized bar of Dove dark chocolate, for example, contains 220 calories with 120 of those calories coming from fat, according to the label.)
纽约布朗克斯蒙特菲尔医学中心的营养学家Lauren Graf说：“如果一个人想要吃巧克力的话，一天一块黑巧克力是最好的方式�?rdquo;黑巧克力比牛奶巧克力有较高浓度的抗氧化成分，并且含糖量更少。许多的营养学家和医生建议坚持食用每天一盎司巧克�?-少于常规分量的巧克力块。（比方说，根据标签一�?.44盎司的德芙黑巧克力包含了220卡路里，而其�?20卡路里来源于脂肪。）
To see if chocolate really does have a positive impact on weight, Dr. Golomb says, a study specifically designed to compare chocolate eaters to non-chocolate eaters needs to be conducted. One stumbling block: Coming up with a fake chocolate placebo that appears like the real thing.
Golomb 博士说：“要看巧克力是否真的对体重有积极的效果，就要专门地做一个比较巧克力食用者和非巧克力食用者的研究。但有一个障碍：假的巧克力好像和真的一样�?/p>
