Chocolate for breakfast? Study suggests potential benefits

Starting your day off with chocolate, or even sneaking in a bit before bed may not have the dire effects on weight gain you’d suspect, especially if done correctly among a certain population.

The researchers reported that morning or nighttime chocolate intake did not lead to weight gain and that eating chocolate in either the morning or the evening can influence hunger and appetite, microbiota composition, sleep and more factors. They also found that a high intake of chocolate during the morning hours could actually help with fat burning and reduce blood glucose levels. Eating chocolate at night could also alter metabolism the following morning.  "Our findings highly that not only ‘what’ but also ‘when’ we eat can impact physiological mechanisms involved in the regulation of body weight," Frank A.J. L. Scheer, PhD, MSc, a neuroscientist with the division of sleep and circadian disorders, department of medicine and neurology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in the news release.