diabetes and chocolate

This week's question comes from Chloe who is worried about the amount of chocolate she eats and the risk of getting diabetes. I think Chloe's concern is more about the sugar in chocolate and it's a common misconception that eating too much sugar makes you get diabetes.

  

If you don't already have diabetes, eating sugar will not give you the disease. The most important thing to stop yourself from getting diabetes type 2 is not to be overweight. If you eat more calories than you burn off (whether that's in the form of  fat, sugar, starch or protein) then you'll put on weight. 

So why does being overweight make you more at risk of getting diabetes type 2? You may have heard of a hormone called insulin whose job is to deliver sugar (glucose) to the cells of the body. When a person is overweight, the cells in the body become less sensitive to insulin.This means that there is more circulating blood glucose instead of being taken in to the cells to be used as energy which isn't good for your body.

The other important factor in preventing diabetes type 2 is keeping active. The more active you are the more energy and fat you will burn. And the more exercise you do, the more muscle cells you will have and these cells are more sensitive to insulin than fat.

So coming back to chocolate. It won't give you diabetes per se. If you're eating tonnes of the stuff and don't burn it off, then yes you'll put on weight which could in turn lead to diabetes but that's the same with any food.

Personally, I'm a big fan of dark chocolate which has more cocoa solids in it than milk chocolate.The cocoa bean is high in a natural chemical called flavanols. Research has shown that flavanols can lower insulin resistance so it looks like dark chocolate in small amounts could can actually help prevent daibetes (which is good news for me).

As ever, if you have any questions please don't hesistate to ask.

Bye for now

Dr. Shilps

Comments

[Helen Sharrott]

Thank you for making a banana free smoothie-I can't eat bananas so it's a treat to find a smoothie without them.

[Fast Weight Loss Diet]

Great site! Found it on google, I'm going to give it a great review. Check back later, Thanks.http://www.losersweightloss.com/burn-fat-feed-muscle-complete/

[Emily]

flavanols - please tell us more! are these the same things you can find in red wine, (and raisins,) and tea? everything seems to be an antioxidant these days - is that what flavanols are too?

[Rhonda Olsen]

Thank you for your clarifying article on Type 2 Diabetes. It's so important to maintain a healthy weight by eating well and being active....and having fun with these! :0)